Familiar Stranger
by Askre5
Summary: Thirteen years ago, Donatello ran away from his family due to reasons he refuses to discuss with his adopted daughter. But will she prove to be her father's daughter and let curiosity and thirst for answers trick her into finding out?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Story originally written and posted on 17/01 2006

This story was one of my longest non-assassin series stories. A Donatello centered story inspired by my wish to see the Turtles in my home country of Iceland. For a while the title actually eluded me and it had another title when it first began posting however, Reinbeuchaser suggested the title "Familiar Stranger" for this story and I ended up using it it and still have deep gratitude to her for that.

There are two languages spoken in this story, Icelandic and English, though all dialogue is in English. Japanese is lightly referred to. Text spoken in Icelandic is identified by brackets like these [ ], for example "[Hi I'm speaking in Icelandic.]" Anything said in Japanese will have double brackets like these [ [ ] ], example: "[[Hi I'm speaking in Japanese]]". English has no brackets.

This is not an action packed story, more of a family drama. It was actually a nice little side track from all the other action packed stories I had been writing at the time. It's set in the Movie Universe version of the Turtles, that is the first two original movies apply as canon source to this story, no other incarnations apply. Now enough blabbing, enjoy the story.

* * *

 **Disclaimer and Legal stuff:**

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, including Raphael®, Michelangelo®, Leonardo®, Donatello®, April O'Neil®, and Splinter® are registered trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Based on characters and comic books created by Peter A. Laird and Kevin B. Eastman.

I do not own them in other words.

This story is written purely as a homage to the Teenage Mutant Turtles and not meant for any commercial profit or infringement on copyright. This story will immediately be removed if Viacom International wishes so.

The story, is copyright © 2006 by Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).[/size]

 _Sum:_ _Thirteen years ago, Donatello ran away from his family due to reasons he refuses to discuss with his adopted daughter. But will she prove to be her father's daughter and let curiosity and thirst for answers trick her into finding out?_

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Donatello sighed slightly and put the pen down, for a moment his eyes were on the journal book but then the gaze moved out of the window. The completely treeless countryside stretched out for miles, the terrain was either grass or hardened lava covered with moss and grass.

And there were mountains, not high but not low enough to be considered hills. Some had been formed by the great glacier that covered a big part of the northern hemisphere during the Ice Age. Others were long dead volcanoes. But hardly a tree in sight, there were some scrubs and some sorry excuses, but no real trees except if they were planted by the farmers.

Don was not a farmer, although he did live in an old farm. It was far away from others like the turtle preferred it to be. This way he could go unnoticed since being a mutant turtle didn't allow for much publicity. Everything he needed was delivered through online orders or catalogs or his daughter did the purchases.

"[Father?]" a voice interrupted his distant thoughts. Donatello turned in his chair and stared at the 16 year old human girl standing in the entrance of his study.

"[Yes, sweetheart?]" he asked smiling. They spoke Icelandic with each other, although she also could speak English and some Japanese, both thanks to his teaching and of course school.

"[Are you all right? You haven't touched your food,]" she asked concerned, pointing at the tray containing his lunch that rested on his desk.

"[I… well I just forgot,]" Don said looking sheepish; his daughter smiled shaking her head. Her father could be absent minded and she sometimes had to remind him to eat; especially when the turtle submerged himself in work.

"[You working on your journal?]" The girl walked into the room, the mutant glanced back at the book and nodded.

"[Are you… writing about them?]" She was more careful asking this question as it was a very sensitive subject for his father and regretted the question, Don's face hardened as it always did when that was brought up.

"[I'm sorry, I just wondered.]" She put one arm around him. He closed his eyes and reached with the left hand to grab gently hers that rested on him.

"[No it's ok. It just… it's just till hard to face it,]" Donatello whispered.

"[Take a break, father, eat your lunch.]" She kissed him on his bald head and patted him on the shoulder. He smiled again and looked at her.

"[They used to have to do that, come and remind me. I always forgot myself in my work and still do.]" He reached for the tray and pushed the journal aside. His daughter smiled and patted the large shell her father carried on his back.

Thirteen years ago he had adopted her after finding her on the streets and no information about the parents. The turtle had originally intended to leave her at a hospital or a child service but she had captivated him and Don couldn't bare parting with her. One reason probably was a selfish one; he didn't want to be alone.

He wasn't that much bigger than the girl now, only few inches taller. He seldom wore anything except for his knee and elbow pads now days. But sometimes Donatello wore his purple mask sported wristbands as well, that's when he and his daughter trained.

"[[Erna how is your Japanese?]]" Don suddenly switched to Japanese as he began to eat. The turtle did this sometimes to test her and could spot if she didn't do her homework based on her responses.

"[[It's coming along, ]]" she managed to answer after a slight hesitation.

"And your English?" Donatello looked at his daughter who faked a not very amused face, she knew he was just checking if she had been slacking.

"What, you wants my to quote Shakespeare?" she asked but realized she had made an error by the grin her father now sported.

" Try, 'What, do you want me to quote Shakespeare?'," he corrected. Erna covered her face with one palm shaking her head.

"[But your Japanese was good,]" the turtle then said, the grin changed into a smirk. "[I trust you didn't memorize the line in case I would ask.]"

"[Hey,]" Erna pretended to be offended, she knew her father was just teasing her.

"[You know I can't resist,]" he said and began eating. The girl shook her head, playfully slapped him on the head before leaving the room.

 _Thirteen years… it's really been that long,_ Don sighed and glanced at his journal. Slowly one hand reached for it and turned the pages backwards, all the way until he was on the first one.

 _I'm on a ship, heading who knows where. I don't know why I am doing this but I can't, I just can't. I hope they forgive me, but I just can't face it._

He quit reading and quickly closed the book. Shuddering slightly the turtle continued to eat.

 _I can't do it, I'm not ready,_ he thought.

* * *

"[Don't lean so quickly,]" Donatello instructed while swinging the Bo staff with one hand. His face was hard and concentrated.

"[I try sensei,]" Erna said flinching when her father's weapon hit her on the leg. She hadn't managed to block it with her Jo staff.

"[Your speed needs some tuning,]" the turtle shook his head in disapproval. But his features softened almost immediately when seeing her regretful look. "[But that's why we are training.]"

Their training room was in the basement. Although during summer time they sometimes practiced outside. Inside the room, Erna called her father sensei as he was her teacher in the martial arts.

Don originally had little intentions to be training her, but he didn't give up his training and had to keep an eye on his daughter as well. Her training almost began automatically.

They took position again and began sparring once more. This time Erna tried more carefully the moves she had been learning since first allowed to wield the staff weapon. Her father had made the choice very simple; it was either the Jo or the Bo staff. Other weapons were simply not allowed into this country except through some heavy paperwork.

Still Don had made some custom weapons of other kinds made of wood. Mostly so her daughter could learn to properly defend herself against them, although they were hardly substituting for the real thing.

"[The Bo and the Jo might not look like much. However with the right knowledge it can do just about as much damage and a sword,] Donatello instructed. They continued to spar for a while and Erna actually managed to get with in his defenses once. But he repaid the favor shortly after by swiftly disarming her and sweeping the girl off her feet with the staff.

"[Do not forget, the Bo is longer than the Jo and thus has more range,]" he said while Erna was standing up grumbling something about cheating fathers.

"[I think this is enough for tonight,]" Don concluded the training session and the bowed. The sweat was pouring of the girl, but her father was only slightly glittering with few drops. They bowed to finish the practice.

Don was removing the mask and the wristbands when he thought Erna said something. He glanced where she was placing the short staff weapon back on the rack.

"[Did you say something?]" he asked curiously while swinging the Bo lazily. His daughter looked at him shocked; she had hoped had missed that.

"[I…]" the girl bit her lips. She had never lied to Donatello, for that she respected him too much. Even in her teenage tantrums, she had never once gone behind his back or growled at him to stay out of her business.

"[I just wondered if… well they practiced this much.]" She bowed her head knowing very well what would come next. Like on cue a deep heavy sigh escaped from her father.

Don had really never intended for his daughter to know that he wasn't exactly the only mutant turtle. Occasionally his mouth slipped and he would make a vague mention that he actually had brothers.

So he relented and did confirm to her that he once had a family elsewhere. Usually his brothers were only mentioned as them or they. The turtle always showed clear signs of discomfort if mentioned so Erna tried her best not to mention them too much. Sometimes though he could mention them without being uncomfortable but it was rare.

But the girl was curious; Don was her only family and knowing that there was a possibility to extend it really appealed to her. She had friends from school but only one was allowed to the house and Donatello wasn't usually inside of it when that happened, keeping himself in the barn.

 _I can't blame her for this though,_ Don looked at where she stood nervously fidgeting with the right sleeve of her shirt. He smiled and walked to her, placing one hand on her shoulder and using the other to cup her chin and lifting the head to face him.

"[Honey, sweetheart… its ok. Yes they practice this much if not more, we used to practice even more than I do now,]" he answered smiling warmly. "[We practice this much because I love you and if anything happens I want to be able to protect you, but I also want you to be able to protect yourself.]"

"[I understand father,]" Erna nodded smiling weakly. Don drew her closer in a hug.

"You have kept me sane these thirteen years," he whispered, speaking English instead of Icelandic. "Maybe one day… but not now."

"[I love you too father,]" his daughter responded, patting his carapace while she hugged him back.

* * *

Later that evening she found her father in the old barn working on an old tractor. Erna remembered when the old vehicle had been brought to the farm months ago; Don had been working on getting it going ever since. But only in the evenings, it was his evening ritual to go to the barn and work on the tractor for one and half hour.

"[You really think you can get this old thing going?]" she asked while leaning on the work table.

"[One day, I have seen worse,]" Donatello responded and pulled himself from under the tractor. She knew instantly that he was thinking of the past when her father hesitated.

"[I… with a friend got a ratty old truck working, who knows how long that one had been dead.]" He shrugged and stood up, grabbed a nearby cloth and began washing his hands with it. "[That was many years ago. Dinner ready?]"

"[Yes,]" Erna answered.

"[Just let me clean myself up.]" Don smiled and walked to the sink he had installed into it. The barn really was at best called a workshop now. The turtle used it primarily for the tractor and other projects that he didn't like doing in the house.

"[So what are we eating?]" he asked while rubbing some soap on his face to get rid of some grease that had leaked on it.

"[I made some soup and then it's just leftovers from yesterday,]" Erna answered and took the opportunity to look closer at the vehicle. She really had little hope that it would ever work again.

"[Didn't I eat that for lunch?]" Don glanced at his daughter questionably. She shook her head sighing slightly.

"[No, you got stew for lunch,]" she reminded him. The turtle frowned slightly but then the brow rose again as he remembered.

"[Oh yeah, well let's eat.]" He threw the towel he had been using back on the hook and they left the barn together.

They had been eating for a while when Donatello noticed that the silence was more tense than it should have been. He could sense it his daughter was nervous and tried to hide it.

"[Is something wrong sweetheart?]" he asked when Erna had made the fifth circle with her spoon in the soup dish.

"[You know I leave on my school trip tomorrow,]" she said quietly. The turtle nodded and realized now why she sounded so down.

"[You won't run into them… New York is a big city. Chances are slim you will even hear rumors about them,]" her father assured her.

Erna's class was going on a special field trip to New York. The whole class had through recycling flasks to cookie sales and other money raising activities raised enough funds for a few days visit to New York City. Of course both of them knew who used to live there and who still probably did.

"[What if I do?]" Erna asked nervously.

"[Ignore them,]" was Donatello's sharp reply and his eyes narrowed. "[And don't try and seek them out Erna, you want too, I know.]"

She just nodded silently and tried to concentrate on the dinner. Seeing how dejected his daughter looked softened his face. With one hand he reached over the table and put it under her chin, lifting the head so she would look at him.

"[I'm sorry sweetie… it's… I just am not ready yet and I know if they find out who you are they will insist on coming,]" he said withdrawing the hand and smiled. "[So when do you leave tomorrow?]"

"[Well Katrín and her mother is going to fetch me early tomorrow since we have to be at the school by four, then the bus will take us to the airport. The plane leaves at half past seven,]" Erna explained.

"[Well if it wasn't for my appearance, we would probably live in the city,]" Don said almost apologetically. His daughter raised an eyebrow.

"[What? I would never leave the country and you know that,]" she said smiling. "[I think people would be more understanding than you believe.]"

"[That is a risk we can't take, we were lucky enough with Jónina and Björn. But we wouldn't be lucky forever and there are people out there who do anything for their own personal gain and they don't care what people they hurt in the process,]" Donatello told her. Erna nodded, having heard this speech before and knew there was no use arguing about it.

"[Well I count myself lucky to have you father, I can't ask for a better one,]" his daughter said and they both smiled wide.

"[Have you finished packing?]" Don asked knowing that his daughter sometimes left things for the last minute. Fortunately that did not include any schoolwork though, he made sure of that and watched it like a hawk.

"[Yes, I packed a full suitcase already,]" Erna answered. The turtle raised an eye ridge.

"[A whole suitcase for a few days trip?]" he mused.

"[Look, unlike somebody I know here. I dress a little bit more.]" She pretended to be offended. But they couldn't help it and laughed almost instantly.

"[Well I hope you will enjoy New York, its one heck of a city,]" Donatello said smiling. "[And I do miss it.]"

* * *

 **Few days later, New York City.**

"[Erna, are you just going to hang in there all day?]"

Erna quickly put the pictures back into her wallet and pushed it into her purse as her friend Katrín opened the hotel room door. Just in case others from the class were with her. She had been lying in the bed and lazing around.

"[Why not, seen everything there is to see,]" the girl shrugged staring at her brown haired friend with bored expression.

"[Yeah all the tourist traps, come on let's hit the streets,]" Katrín said gesturing out of the room.

"[We are supposed to stay in the hotel,]" Erna reminded her but the other girl wouldn't hear it.

"[Oh come on, it's our last day here and the only one we have completely for ourselves,]" she whined.

"[All right, all right,]" Erna relented and rose up from the bed. "But let's check with Sigurður first."

"[Are you kidding? He'll never allow us,]" Katrín protested but this time Erna didn't listen.

"[Katrín, you know I will not sneak out,]" she reminded her. _[My father taught me better than that.]_

Katrín sighed in surrender and the girls went to the hotel room that belonged to their teacher. Erna knocked without hesitation and shortly later a tall brown haired man opened and smiled when seeing them.

"[Hello girls, something wrong?]" Sigurður asked.

"[We just wanted to check if it was all right if Katrín and I went sightseeing on our own,]" Erna asked, the teacher folded his arms and dropped the smile.

"[Well, I don't think it's a very good idea. New York isn't Reykjavík, it's easier to get lost and I am responsible for the whole class, I wouldn't want your parents on my ass if something happened,]" he said, a worried frown crossed his face.

"[We won't get lost,]" Katrín promised and smiled her best smile.

"[We won't go far and won't be long, two hours at most?]" Erna offered smiling as well. She was starting to catch her friend's enthusiasm of going out on their own. Although the girl was sure her father would spank her, despite her age, for going out unescorted.

"[Very well, two hours and don't go far,]" Sigurður gave in and the girls immediately darted off after they said thanks.

Once out of the hotel Erna first now noticed that it was slowly becoming darker. She hadn't noticed it in the room since she had the curtains over the window and the lights on.

"[Maybe we should have it an hour instead of two,]" she suggested but Katrín didn't hear her, she was already on her way down the street. Erna hurried after her and the girls hit town but kept the hotel in sight.

There were many things of interest for two teenage Icelandic girls in a large city like New York. Even though they didn't wander far off, the two friends still managed to find couple of shops to browse. Katrín ended up buying herself couple of outfits. Erna was content on some new t-shirts.

Erna had to admit being slightly nervous. She knew better than her friend who lived as well in this city and although the girl knew they wouldn't appear in public, she couldn't help it but look around sometimes.

 _[Where would they hide,]_ she wondered at one point. The city was of course big and probably easy for a human to disappear in. But where would somebody like Donatello hide for so long unnoticed.

"[Uh oh, our two hours are almost up,]" Katrín looked at the clock. She looked pleadingly at Erna hoping that they could cheat on their time off, but knew better, her friend was very strict on following instructions.

"[Then let's head back to the hotel,]" Erna said grabbing her bag and they left shop they were in. Now it was dark outside and not as crowded on the street. The girls chatted about clothes and other mundane things paying little attention to their surroundings.

Suddenly two hands darted out of an alley and grabbed Katrín, the girl was then yanked into it. Erna gasped but followed and saw her friend struggle against a young man in dirty street clothes. The guy was trying to rip her purse away.

Erna rushed forward to help Katrín who suddenly was slammed up against the wall in the fight and lost consciousness. The mugger noticed the other teenager and jumped at her hoping for another easy prey.

Donatello's daughter took a deep breath and grabbed the wrist of the incoming hands. She quickly did a sweep-kick that swept the man off his feet. The guy was unprepared for his victim to retaliate and thus fell straight to the ground. Erna then forcefully slammed her right foot into his head knocking him out.

The girl assumed a fighting position over her fallen opponent just in case he was playing possum, but the man didn't move. Erna was breathing very heavily after this short battle; she had never expected to have to use her father's teachings.

She ignored the mugger for now and rushed to her unconscious friend. Katrín was fortunately light. Erna prepared to lift her up when a stunned voice addressed her from the shadows.

"How did you learn to fight like that?"

 **End chapter 1**

* * *

 **A/N:** Here is the same short crash course on Iceland and Icelanders I gave eight years ago:

We Icelanders are bit informal people, we are always on first name bases because our last names, really aren't last names. My name for instance is Herman Gunnar and I am Sigurdsson, although if asked for full name I say simply Hermann Gunnar Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson only indicates that my father's name is Sigurdur.

In fact, family names are so rare in Iceland that you cannot have them unless it's already established in your family long ago and is stuck.

Because of this, we do not address teachers and such as sir, Mr. or Miss. We address them with their first names; children learn their names and use that simply. They do not add sir, Mr. or Miss in front of the names.

That only applies for people like the President and the Prime minister.

Why this informality? I have no idea really, but I have always felt it cozier and I doubt you will find a teacher on Iceland today who would like to be addressed as sir or ma'am. So Katrín and Erna are not being disrespectful or rude by addressing the teacher by his first name and adding no title. This is just how we Icelanders are

Also Erna is really only formal with Donatello and calls him father (and sensei when training) instead of dad or daddy. She simply respects him that much, but let's formality fly when in company of her friends.

Our capital's name is Reykjavik, but the international airport is in a town called Keflavik 45 minutes drive away from the capital, so it is a very long drive over there.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 18/01 2006

Any errors in Erna's dialog when she speaks English are intentional. Any errors outside those dialog are not intentional and probably because I didn't catch them when editing.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Erna rose up, staring alarmed into the alley. It was too dark for her to see anything. The lone streetlight was not enough.

"Don't worry, I won't harm you. I just want to know how you learned to fight with those techniques in your moves," the voice was calm and non-threatening. That calmed the girl slightly.

"My father teach me," she said grimacing at how horrible her English sounded. There was silence for a moment but the girl could swear she heard movement, somebody had shifted carefully closer.

"Your father?" The voice was even more stunned. "There is only one who could have taught your father and he didn't teach many."

"My father is…" Erna frowned in heavy thought as she tried to bring up the right English word. Since she didn't speak with her father regularly in English it was very rusty. "I can't remember the word… not just special, my English is not good."

"You are not from around here are you?" The voice sounded amused and was a little bit closer. She nodded and nervously looked at the unconscious mugger who had jumped her and Katrina. Her friend was also still out.

"From Iceland, on vacation with our school," Erna said. She sighed in frustration, writing English was one thing but talking it? She wondered why the person didn't come closer. Why did it stay out of sight, much like her father did when somebody came to the farm?

 _[Oh my god.]_ The realization hit her. "Y-you are…are one of them."

"What?" the voice was confused now. Erna grabbed her mouth when remembering the sharp voice of Donatello.

 _['Ignore them… don't try to seek them out.']_

"You know me?" the voice sounded much more wary now, careful and ready for anything.

"Maybe… my father… he sometimes. He say he had brothers like him here." Erna knew she was stepping far over the line but felt it was too late by now. She had already blurted out that she knew at least what the mystery person was.

"That isn't possible." The voice became apprehensive and distant, sounded like he was more talking with himself. "He is dead."

"My father is alive…" Erna was cut short by the big turtle that appeared in the streetlight, the face was disfigured in a scowl.

"Donatello is dead!" he growled, one hand was on the sword on his back and half drawn up. The girl knew he was simply trying to scare her off, if the turtle wanted to kill her he would have done so already. He had also confirmed who he was for her.

"Donatello…my father is alive… I can prove." She reached for her purse while keeping an eye on the one she was sure she could call uncle but didn't dare to right now. She grabbed her wallet and pulled out the pictures in it, two pictures of her father.

"This here is when we hiked last year up a mountain near our farm." Erna handed the picture towards the turtle who dropped the scowl. He let go off the sword and accepted the photo. His frowning face changed into a surprised and shocked one when seeing the turtle leaning up against a rock and smiling at the camera.

"This here was taken few months ago." She handed him the second picture. This time the turtle wore full battle gear consisting of knee and elbow pads, wristbands and a purple mask. In the turtle's hands was a staff and he was in a ready battle position.

"He… he is alive," the turtle whispered when seeing the second picture. "And he still trains."

"He trains me as well," Erna said, she got the pictures back and put them in her wallet.

"Has he ever talked about us?" he asked her. All apprehension was away from his voice and face, now the turtle was curious but careful. Erna hesitated and that seemed to answer his question and he sighed sorrowfully. "I thought so."

"He sometimes slips… that is how I knew that you were in this city," she quickly mentioned. The turtle looked at her with a half-smile.

"Somehow I don't think we were supposed to meet. But since we have I guess I am your uncle. My name is Leonardo and I am Donatello's brother," he said. "I apologize for my earlier attitude."

"That's all right and yes I was not supposed to seek any of you. My name is Erna," she introduced herself. Leonardo walked closer and grabbed for the unconscious man.

"I will take care of this scum, you take your friend back where you are staying," he said. Before Erna could protest he had already dragged the man further into the alley and disappeared. Just at that moment Katrín began to stir.

 _[Ok, that was no coincidence, he knew she was waking up,]_ the girl thought. She helped her friend to her feet and told her only half of what had happened, refraining to tell about the turtle. They returned to the hotel and didn't tell anybody that they were almost mugged.

* * *

Later that night there was a knock on her window. Surprised and a bit startled the girl drew the curtains away. Her eyes opened wide when seeing Leonardo standing there on the balcony. She quickly opened the balcony door and the turtle slipped in silently. Now she really did not regret asking for a single room when she had gone on this trip. Though in this case she had done it simply because she liked being able to go to bed on her own time. Not that she was any party pooper, but sometimes Erna liked the solitude.

"Wha… uh… how?" she asked the turtle who walked to the entrance of the room and seemed to be making sure nobody was outside.

"I followed you and your friend. Took a bit to locate your room but I did when you were fixing the curtains few minutes earlier," Leonardo answered when he turned back to her. "I'm sorry for intruding but I hope you understand. I have believed that my brother has been dead for years and then suddenly proof of his existence comes around in form of his daughter, adoptive daughter I take."

"Yes, my father adopts me when I was three," Erna wanted to sink; her English really needed work.

"Doesn't your father teach you English?" Leonardo asked spotting the mistakes in her voice.

"He has and I'm learning in school too, but we always speak Icelandic together," the girl explained. Leonardo walked closer staring at her curiously.

"Interesting, you up for a little trip?" he asked smiling warmly.

"Uh, what?" Erna asked confused, Leonardo walked to the balcony and gestured outside.

"You have another uncle and he should know your father is alive but he won't believe me just like that, he will need to meet you. I have go back to our home anyway, I was on my way there when I saw you and how you dealt with the mugger," he explained and held out one hand. "Please, I know your father doesn't want this and in a way I can understand him but I ask… no I beg you to come and see your uncle. He has been suffering the whole time Donatello has been gone."

"Well…" The girl knew she shouldn't, her father would be mad if he ever found out but Erna really wanted to meet the rest of the family. "All right, but out the balcony?"

"I can't really go out the front door," Leonardo chuckled "And you shouldn't probably let anybody know that you are going. We won't be long; you will be back by morning."

She walked to him and took his hand. The turtle led her out and picked up a rope with a grappling hook on it. He told her climb onto his back and hold, he threw the hook towards the nearby house and before Erna knew it they were swinging off the balcony and towards the building.

He landed nimbly on the wall and swiftly climbed despite the extra weight up the building. Leonardo led the girl across the rooftop and down a fire escape. Once down in the alley, he led her to manhole cover and removed it from the hole.

"Where we are we going?" Erna didn't like the look of this, but the turtle was in a hurry and just gestured her to climb down first.

"I'm sorry for being in such a rush but I should have been home much sooner," Leonardo told her once they were in the sewer tunnels. Erna noticed him pat a plastic bag that was tied to his belt.

"You live down here?" she asked, Leonardo glanced back at her with a half-smile.

"Your father grew up in the New York City sewer system," he explained. "That was the only way for us; we couldn't and still can't be seen or known about. Don't worry about the smell and dirt, it will get better. We will soon leave the actual sewers and come to a more abandoned section. We live in an old abandoned subway station."

Indeed soon the smell that assaulted Erna's nose started to diminish and the tunnels didn't look as filthy, although they looked old. Finally Leo uncovered a hole in the tunnel and gestured her to climb down the long ladder.

They climbed down and the girl saw an old abandoned station. There was an old subway train there and the cars were obviously used as rooms. One part of the station seemed to have been closed off with a wall but a door on it indicated where you could enter.

A coughing sound came from one train car. Leonardo almost instantly untied the plastic bag and walked to the room. He opened the door and disappeared inside leaving Erna where she was still walking down the steps into the lair.

"Here you go Mikey, got that coughing syrup finally. Don't give me that face, it helps your throat, you have been coughing up your lungs all day," she heard her uncle say to somebody in the car. She frowned, was it possible she had a cousin? It sure sounded like somebody young he was speaking too.

"I got an aspirin bottle too," Leonardo said. Erna carefully walked to the subway car where the turtle had disappeared into. She stopped in the doorway and saw Leonardo sitting beside a bed and pulling out medicine bottles from the bag. In the bed lay another turtle that didn't seem all too well, but he rose up slightly when seeing the girl.

"W-who is that?" he whispered, the voice was hoarse. Leonardo looked up; he had momentarily forgotten Erna while bringing the stuff to the sick turtle.

"Mikey…" He hesitated and she could see that he wasn't sure how to say this. "This is our niece, Erna. She's Donatello's adoptive daughter."

"W-what? B-but… no… he's dead… Donatello is dead," Mikey protested and was shaking badly. Leonardo put away the bag and grabbed one shoulder of his brother trying to calm him down.

"Show him the pictures," he addressed Erna, the girl quickly grabbed her wallet from the purse and pulled out the pictures. She gave them to Leonardo who still held the shaking turtle who shook his head madly.

"Mikey, look," Leonardo ordered the sick turtle. Mike stopped shaking his head but didn't stop shivering. He grabbed both photos and stared astonished at them both.

"T-that's him," he whispered.

"One was taken last year and the other was taken few months ago. Mikey, he still trains and he has been training her." Leonardo pointed at the picture with Donatello in full battle gear and then gestured to Erna. "I saw her fight; she used a technique only a student of Master Splinter could have taught her."

"He's alive," Mikey looked at Leonardo and smiled. "He's alive."

"Yes Mikey, he's been in another country. That's why we couldn't find him," Leonardo explained, Erna saw he was dreading to continue. "But… he still doesn't want contact Mike… it was a coincidence that I met his daughter. She is only on a trip here and well, she was probably told not to contact us."

Mikey's smile disappeared instantly, the tears were starting to form and the pictures dropped from his hands and to the bed.

"W-why Leo?" he asked. "Why?"

"Don had his reasons," Leonardo said grabbing his brother in a hug as he began crying.

Erna decided to evict herself from the doorway and walked to the living room. She decided to wait for Leonardo there and sat on the couch. After few minutes he did come out of Mikey's room and sat on a chair close to the couch.

"Mikey just has a little flu, that's why he's in bed. He's better already in fact. I just don't let him overdrive himself," he said as to answer the unasked question why Mikey was in bed coughing.

"His name is Mikey?" Erna glanced back to the car where muffled coughing could be heard occasionally.

"Michelangelo actually, but we… I call him Mikey or Mike for short," Leonardo explained.

"My father has never told me anything, his past is very sensitive subject… at most I learn when he accidentally says things. He only confirmed to me that he had brothers and they lived here in New York," Erna looked at the turtle regretfully.

"Yes, I can understand… partly at least. You see, thirteen years ago our father died, he got sick and didn't get better. Donatello, your father, tried to find a cure for it. He made tests after tests for days, he was still trying when our father finally could struggle no longer against this and passed away. Your father sunk into heavy depression, wouldn't speak for days, we later learned that he had found a cure but was few hours too late. Then something happened, Mikey and I don't really know what it was, but it was something between your father and Raphael who was your third uncle. Raph never told us, he was too ashamed and blamed himself for it." Leonardo stopped his story to look up at Erna who was listening attentively.

"One day thirteen years ago we found that your father had disappeared out of his room, he left us a note that only said goodbye. We searched for a year, high and low all over the country, after the year we accepted that he was gone forever, well Mikey and I accepted it. Raphael didn't and kept going out in hope that Donatello would show up," he continued.

"Why do you talk about Raphael like he's…," Erna gulped. "Dead?"

"That's because he is," Leo's voice was sorrowful.

"Ten years ago he got into a fight to big even for him. He didn't call for us, it was a coincidence that Mike and I went out to look for him and found him. The gang had him surrounded and there were too many of them for a single turtle, even though it was Raphael. Mike and I managed to drive them off, but it was too late. Raphael barely hung to live and when I gathered him up in my arms he was muttering, begging your father forgiveness. 'I'm sorry Donnie! I'm sorry what I said! I didn't mean it!' It was the last thing I ever heard him say. He died that night in my arms and I never got to know what it was he said to your father that prompted him to ask forgiveness."

"I'm sorry," the girl said regretful for having brought this all up.

"No don't, it's all right you should know this. After all you are in the family, even though Don ran away he's still my brother and we miss him," Leonardo told her smiling reassuringly. "But I won't ask you to tell me where you two live. If Donatello wants to contact us, he will on his own."

"I think he may has tried," Erna winched as the sloppy part of her English came back with vengeance. "Sorry, may have tried."

"Really?" Leo ignored it that she had made a mistake, realizing it wasn't her first language and thus he shouldn't blame her for making them.

"Sometimes, he sits by the phone and looks uneasy," she continued. "He picks the handset and is about to dial number but then changes mind… changes his mind, damn English."

Leonardo had to cover his mouth to hold down the chuckle, especially since Erna added few curses in Icelandic.

"One would think having an English speaking father would help," she then said, managing to say it right but her accent came out heavier since she had chosen each word more carefully.

"Well if you aren't used to speaking it constantly then it probably gets a bit rusty," the turtle said smiling very wide. "When do you leave for home?"

"Tomorrow," Erna sighed, now that she had met her father's family she really didn't want to go. Leonardo picked up the photos from the belt, having rescued them from Mikey's bed and handed them to her. She only took one photo, the one were Donatello was leaning up against the rock.

"Keep the other one, who knows." Erna shrugged and placed the photo back into the wallet. Leo thanked her gratefully and put the photo on the living room table.

"So it's only been Mikey and you since Raphael died?" she then asked, Leonardo nodded.

"We hardly go out anymore; I only go to get supplies or anything absolutely necessary. Mikey, he hasn't left the lair on his own since Raphael died. It's only when I drag him out for fresh air that he's outside of it. We keep training just in case anything would happen. We have quit patrolling all together like we used to do. I help people if I run across something on my limited outings but I haven't been in a serious fight for years," the turtle told her. "We have two human friends who help us sometimes; right now they are on a vacation."

"Who are they?" Erna asked.

"Their names are April and Casey, we met them when we were fifteen. Raphael had the honor of meeting them both first, although April was unconscious at the time and when he met Casey he was stopping him from braining muggers," Leo said. They turned when the car door to Mikey's room opened and the turtle came walking out with a blanket wrapped around his body.

"Mikey," Leonardo frowned. "You shouldn't…"

"What? I want to talk with my niece too," he said grinning slightly; it disappeared for a moment while he coughed then he promptly sat down in the same couch Erna sat in. Leo shook his head but refrained from protesting further.

"Hi I'm Michelangelo, but just call me Mike or Mikey. Erna wasn't it?" the sick turtle asked and the teenager nodded.

"Sorry about earlier, it was just a bit of a shock to hear he was still alive," Mikey apologized.

"Oh that's all right," Erna assured him. The turtle detected immediately her accent and looked at her more curiously.

"I'm Icelandic," she explained. At that Mike looked at Leo who shrugged.

"I know as much as you do," he said.

"It's a small country in Europe, the name is a bit misleading I know." The girl then explained a bit about her country.

"Wonder how Donny ended up there?" Mikey scratched his head. Erna shrugged; she did not have the answer for that.

"I only know that he finds… found me wandering on the streets when I was three," she said. "I have very little memories of it, what I know my father told me. My earliest memory is Christmas when I was five."

"Where exactly do you live there?" Leonardo asked but added immediately. "Don't tell me the address, just how you live. Your father can't exactly go to a regular work."

"As far as I know we has… have lived in the countryside for all my live. It was an old farm, my father took it over," Erna explained, then for a moment wondered if she should tell them more. She had already gone far beyond her father's wishes, further than the girl had ever done before.

"No wonder you didn't like the idea of the sewers," the blue masked turtle chuckled. Mikey faked a shocked look.

"She didn't like the sewers? It's such a quality establishment, with all the sludge, the smell and the dirt." He put a hand on his chest like the turtle was deeply hurt, but then grinned very wide. "Then again your place sounds nicer, can I come?"

"Oh Uncle Mike…" Erna sighed wishfully. "I wish I could say yes."

"Mike, she has probably already broken a few promises just by sitting here now. Let's not push our luck, we know at least our brother is alive," Leonardo said. Mike's grin changed into a weak smile.

"Yeah I guessed, sorry," Mikey apologized but the girl shook her head.

"Don't apologize, I understand. My father is my only family… I have always wished that we had more," the girl told them. "I secretly wished I would meet you while here."

"What a lucky coincidence, if Mike hadn't been sick we wouldn't have." Leonardo smiled and just at that moment the other turtle entered another coughing fit.

"Glad my ailment is of some use," Mike muttered after regaining composure.

"Speaking of your ailment, I know this is a rare opportunity but you really must be in bed." Leonardo stood up and gestured to his brother to do so likewise. Mikey sighed but obeyed.

"It was nice seeing you Erna," the sick turtle addressed the girl with a big smile. "And thank you for letting us know he is alive."

"You're welcome," she said.

Leonardo then led his brother back into the train car, when inside the door closed so the girl guessed they were having a private talk. She heard the sobs mixed with coughing and faintly the voice of the blue-wearing turtle as he tried to calm his crying sibling.

Erna took a glance at the picture that lay on the table; then turned her head to look at her uncle's room. Silently the girl picked up her purse and slowly drew up a pen from it. She reached for the picture, turned it around and quickly wrote something on the back before returning it back to the table.

She had just finished putting her pen back in her purse when Leonardo finally came out of the train car.

"I better take you back to the hotel since you leave tomorrow," he said showing no hints in his face or voice what he was thinking. Erna nodded and stood up following her uncle out of the lair.

* * *

It was late, almost early morning when Leonardo finally returned back to the lair. After returning his niece back to the hotel and said his farewells he had lingered on a nearby rooftop to think.

This had been the most shocking night in his life since their father died, Donatello disappeared and Raphael fell. A girl appeared out of the blue with proof that his brother was alive, living in another country for thirteen years.

Leo sunk into the chair he had been sitting in when Erna was visiting. One hand was rubbing his forehead and the other arm lay over his plastron. It was still sinking through, the fact that Don was alive.

 _Why Don? Why did you leave us?_ He rose slightly to grab the photo from the table and then leaned back in the chair.

 _What did Raphael say? What could he possibly have said?_ Staring at the picture didn't provide any answers. It just showed his purple wearing brother wielding the familiar Bo staff.

Slowly a single tear crawled down his face. Leonardo had kept his emotions in check ever since their brother fell in battle. He had to be strong, for Mikey's sake who had been sensitive before but was even more now.

Seeing now the proof opened slowly the floodgates. Leo was crying for the first time in years, whispering questions that could only be answered by turtle on the photo.

Leonardo dropped the picture from his hand as he covered his face with both palms, he tried to regain control but the tears kept coming and the questions kept rising. The only thing he did manage was not to sob loudly.

Finally after few minutes he regained some control; slowly he dried his face with one hand sniffling slightly. He saw that the picture had fallen to the floor and the sensitive photograph was down.

Rescuing it from the ground Leonardo noticed on the white back was something written. For a moment the turtle blinked his eyes trying to figure out whether something actually was written there or not. He could have sworn nothing had been written there earlier.

 _She didn't,_ he thought and peered closer at the writing. His eyes flew wide open and his jaw dropped.

"That girl is brave," Leonardo muttered shaking his head. Again the tears started to force themselves through, but this time it were tears of joy. He was perhaps going to have his answers finally.

 **End Chapter 2**

* * *

 **A/N:** When I originally wrote this story, I often worried that Erna would be taken as a Mary Sue seeing that female OCs in fan fiction are generally not overly popular (and by that time I had only been writing TMNT fics for less than half a year). However, I never received a single complaint about her and most readers seemed in fact in full support of her.

When we reach a later chapter in this story, I'm going to point a little something out from this chapter that no one realized. Or at least if they did, they never told me.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 20/01 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Iceland**

"[Hey, Earth to Erna, hello?]" Katrín gently nudged her friend who was staring out of the car window. It had snowed while they were in America and now the usual yellowish and brown landscape was completely white.

"[Wha?]" the other teenager looked up a bit confused then realized she was in a car on her way home. The driver was Katrín's mother.

"[You zoned out on me.]" Her friend pouted and folded her arms. They were both sitting in the back.

"[Oh sorry, I was just thinking,]" Erna apologized. Katrín's mother laughed.

"[That's a lot of thinking, she's been trying to get your attention for five minutes,]" the older woman said looking for a split second in the rear mirror to see the two teenagers in the back.

"[Yeah I was just thinking about the trip.]" Erna shrugged and the glanced at her friend. The truth was she worried her father would find her out. "Were you saying something that required me to be in contact with Earth?"

"[Oh no, just talking about stupid things like boys and such,]" Katrín laughed and so did her friend. "[I have been trying to tell you that we have an essay to finish. Did you finish your half before we went on the trip?]"

"[Oh my god!]" Erna gulped and grabbed her head with both hands. "[I haven't even started yet!]"

"[You better be kidding me,]" the other girl warned with a frown. Erna's hands dropped to the sides and she shook her head smiling.

"[Of course I finished it. You really think _my_ father would even allow me to go on the trip to New York if I hadn't finished?]" she asked smiling. Katrín playfully punched her shoulder.

"[Don't scare me like that,]" the teenager grunted but grinned.

Suddenly the car started shaking a bit and made weird sounds. Katrín's mother cursed and banged the steering wheel with one hand. She hammered the foot on the gas pedal.

"[Damn thing, I hoped it was fixed,]" she growled and cursed heavily. Finally the shaking and the noise stopped and the car seemed to drive like normal. The woman glared into the rear mirror.

"[Erna, you think I can bluff your father into fixing this. I've heard he is handy with machines,]" she asked. Erna's eyes opened wide. Of course it was no secret that her father fixed things, he was brought machines and other things by a third party and fixed them. Sometimes he even got a car or other vehicles to take a look at.

The third party was an older couple that lived on a farm closest to theirs. They were the only ones beside Erna naturally who knew Donatello and what he was, but they kept the secret tight.

"[I'm sure I can ask him,]" the girl offered.

"[Hey isn't that your dad outside?]" Katrín asked pointing outside. Erna perked up; they were closing in on her home. She could see the large white stone house and the big gray barn. Outside on the driveway in front of the house was a heavily clothed figure shoveling the snow.

"[Yes that's him,]" the girl confirmed and hoped that her father was clothed enough to conceal himself completely.

Donatello looked up from his work when hearing the car approach and quickly adjusted the scarf so it would hide is face properly. Fortunately he also had ski goggles over his eyes so the green skin color wasn't as visible.

He stood up straight and turned to face the incoming visitors. When he recognized the car the turtle smiled and waved. Erna could be seen where she was waving in the back of the car. The vehicle stopped close by and made some funny noises before dying down. He could see Katrín's mother raise her hands in frustration and mouthed very obviously some heavy curses directed at the car.

"[Hello father.]" Erna jumped out of the car and ran to him. Don held out his hands and hugged his daughter as she flew into his arms.

"[Hi sweetheart; enjoyed your trip?]" he asked when they parted. The girl smiled even wider.

"[Oh yes, very much,]" she said. They looked at the car when Katrín and her mother both came out.

"[Hello Donatello, I finally get to meet you,]" the older woman greeted him. She probably meant it; Don was very famous in the countryside for being reclusive. Of course very few knew why. "[I'm Katrín's mother, Halldóra.]"

"[Eh, yeah, something wrong with your vehicle?]" Donatello asked casually and thankfully was wearing thick mittens so his three fingered hand could shake hands with the woman.

"[Glad you asked, you see it's been coughing and shaking for god knows how long. I took it to a shop in town and they said they fixed the problem. But the damn car just got worse,]" Halldóra glared at the red car. The two teenagers used the opportunity while the adults were talking and removed Erna's suitcase and few extra bags from the trunk.

"[I could probably look at it,]" Donatello offered and held down a sigh, he had hoped to talk with Erna about her trip. He missed his home city and wanted to hear about it. _Well it can wait._

"[Would you? I can pay, you can't be more expensive than those at the shop,]" the woman said with an uneasy smile.

"[If you think you can wait I can take a look at it right now. I'll just take it to the barn,]" the turtle said and motioned to his daughter to come.

"[Yes I can wait, the schools don't start until tomorrow and I had no plans,]" Halldóra claimed relieved. Don nodded and he was then handed the keys to the car.

"[Erna, you keep our guests company while I take a look at the car,]" he told the girl before entering the car and drove it to the barn.

Erna was very relieved she wouldn't have to confront her father right away about the trip. She gestured Halldóra to follow and they walked to Katrín who was impatiently waiting at the front doors with her friend's luggage. Now she at least had few hours to compose herself and hope that Donatello wouldn't catch on.

At least not yet or too soon.

* * *

Donatello glared at the task at hand. He had already experienced what was wrong with the car on the way to the barn and could fully understand Halldóra's frustrations. This was probably a problem with the fuel injection and the shaking was probably misaligned tires.

 _Whoever took a look at this car the last time has never looked at a car before,_ he grunted and opened the hood. Now within the relative safety of the barn he had removed most of the clothing.

"Now let's see." He began scouring through the engine to find the possible problem and what he suspected it to be. _Man this car reminds me of the car April bought and took me, Casey and Raph five days to get working properly._

Don stopped his work at the sudden thought; a weak smile crawled on beak as the memory of the event that took place fourteen years ago at the old farmhouse.

* * *

" _All right try," Donatello suggested. He and Casey stepped away from the car. Raphael who sat behind the steering wheel turned the key but nothing happened. Two turtles and a man sighed in frustration._

" _Where did she buy that piece of junk," Raph growled and tried again._

" _Stop you could put too much fuel into the engine," Don warned and returned to the hood. 'Casey, peek under and see if you can find any leaks or anything that might be missing.'_

" _Right," the man muttered and knelt down to the floor and looked under the car. He promptly lay down on the back and pushed himself under it._

" _Donny we have been trying to get this thing working for five days. We aren't going to get it working," Raph snorted, then a mischief came over him and he honked the horn._

" _OW, RAPH!" Casey shouted and came from under the car rubbing a sore spot on his forehead where he had banged his head. Don put one palm over his face and shook his head._

" _Kids, try to focus," he muttered. Raphael was rolling in the seat in mad laughter. Casey shook a fist at him but decided to retaliate later and returned under the car._

" _Aha, I see the problem, the battery isn't connected properly," Don announced. Casey came crawling from under the car. He and Raph watched the purple masked turtle tighten the connection to the battery._

" _And it looks like…" Donatello trailed off as he noticed something else further inside the engine and for a moment the other two only heard some rustling and could have sworn the turtle was only banging at something. Finally he withdrew himself from the engine and stepped back. "Try it now Raph."_

" _Ok." Raph turned the key and for a moment there was a starting noise. The red clad turtle growled and then tried again and this time the car started._

" _HAHA, awright." Raphael and Casey cheered. Donatello nodded satisfied, removed any tools around the car engine before closing the hood._

" _I tell you Case, there is nothing this turtle can't fix," Raph stated as he stepped out of the car, sporting a toothy grin._

" _That's not completely true," Don muttered._

" _And very modest to boot, but don't let him fool ya, there is nothing he can't handle." The red clad turtle nudged the human with an elbow._

* * *

Don felt a single tear crawl down and a lump form in his throat. He tried to swallow it but was forced to stand up to try and compose himself. Thinking about this happy occasion in his life had stirred other memories.

 _Raph was wrong,_ he thought drying the tear from his beak. _There are some things I can't fix._

He calmed himself down enough and resumed the work on the car.

* * *

"[So Erna, why is your father so solitary?]" Halldóra asked as she accepted a cup of coffee from the girl.

"[Ah, he has problem with showing himself, he is afraid that he might put people off,]" Erna answered. Not the best answer but it had to do for now.

"[It wouldn't have anything to do with it that he isn't human is it?]" the woman asked completely shocking the teenagers. Halldóra grinned when seeing the face both girls sported. Katrín actually did know what Donatello looked like but she had been loyal to Erna and her father's wishes to keep it secret and kept her mouth shut. However she had not been allowed to know that there were others like him.

"[H-how?]" Erna asked startled.

"[Oh come now, our farm is only ten minutes away on a car. Don't you think I haven't seen your father on one of his evening walks?]" The woman laughed. "[Of course he does a wonderful job at hiding. I was lucky when I spotted him and that was only because he hadn't been aware of me just yet.]"

"[Oh god, I know when that was. Didn't he walk with a slight limp?]" Erna wondered and Halldóra nodded. "[Yes, he had sprained the ankle after falling so he wasn't paying too much attention. He did mention he had suspected one of our neighbors being nearby but was in such hurry to get home that he really didn't confirm it.]"

"[And he paid it no mind when nothing happened afterwards,]" the girl added after some thought. Again her friend's mother nodded her head.

"[You see, for a moment I thought I was actually seeing a space alien or even more fantastic, a troll and figured I must be going crazy. I began thinking, he had been on his way towards your farmhouse and then it clicked. Your father doesn't see anybody or shows up in any gatherings or anything. Yet you can send your broken electronics to Jónína and Björn and have them fixed by your father.]" Halldóra shrugged. "[So I figured that Donatello Aron Hamato might have a very good reason for not showing himself and I just saw the reason.]"

"[Actually you say Hamato Donatello Aron,]" Erna corrected smiling. "[His father was Japanese and you say the family name first.]"

"[I thought Donatello came from America?]" Katrín's mother raised an eyebrow but the teenager nodded.

"[His father was a Japanese immigrant in America,]" the girl explained.

"[All right then, so what exactly is your father? I must admit he does a better job than most humans I know at raising his daughter,]" Halldóra asked and glared at her daughter who put up a very innocent face and mouthed 'what?'

"[He's a mutant turtle,]" Erna said very casually. Although she was still having troubles holding her surprise that her friend's mother knew who Don was. The girl wondered how her father would react to it, like she wouldn't be in enough trouble for what she did in New York. The woman simply nodded but looked impressed.

"[You don't have to worry about me or Katrín, we won't tell anybody. If he doesn't want to be known we will respect that. It's none of our business, beside I better suck up to the person fixing my car,]" Halldóra assured the girl who chuckled at the joke in the end.

* * *

 **New York.**

"See, no breaking and entering," Leonardo gestured around and smiled at April who only shook her head returning the smile.

"You didn't have to come to tell us that," she claimed and put the luggage down on the living room floor. Casey Jones appeared in the doorway to the apartment with his suitcase.

"Well I didn't come to tell you that," the turtle admitted. He waited for his human friends to put their luggage away and used the opportunity to sit down in one of the chairs.

Soon enough they were all sitting in the living room drinking tea, safe for Casey who was drinking coffee. The humans told Leo all he wanted to know about their Canada trip.

"When we have developed the photos we can even show you and Mikey more of the trip than mere words describe," April offered, Leonardo simply nodded.

"So how is Mikey doin'?" Casey asked, the turtle had just been getting sick when the humans had gone on their vacation. It had taken both Mike and Leo to convince them to go on the trip and not worry about them.

"He's better already, stopped coughing altogether this morning. Still feeling a bit feverish but his appetite is back," the blue masked turtle explained with a chuckle.

"That's good to hear, I was worried the whole trip," April claimed.

"We noticed, you called every day." Leo smiled and they all laughed.

Leonardo wondered how he should drop the bomb. They hadn't yet noticed the paper fastened on his belt, right beside the left bridge that connected his plastron and carapace. The mood was so light and happy, the turtle didn't really want to ruin it. They had all accepted it long ago and this sudden discovery could only be taken by joy, denial or anger.

"Leo?" the woman noticed that the ninja had dropped out of the discussion and was deep in thought. In reality Leo's mind had gone far back. He was staring at a particular chair in the living room.

* * *

" _Don what are you doing?" April asked staring that the turtle sitting in her living room. The purple masked ninja looked up from the chair and then at the assorted toaster parts on the floor in front of him._

" _Um…" Don used the screwdriver to scratch his beak without taking his eyes of the shocked and slightly frustrated woman._

" _That was a new toaster, there was nothing wrong with it." She gestured to the toaster in the turtle's lap and the parts on the floor in front of him._

" _I know," Donny said smiling sheepishly. April gave him a gesture to explain and it had better be a good excuse._

" _I just wanted to see how it worked with the timer, it's different from the regular toaster," Donatello explained._

" _Raph and I tried to stop him," Mikey appeared in the living room holding a bowl of popcorn. 'He threatened to not fix the TV next time it broke if we did.'_

" _Right," April glanced at Mike and then at Don who was smiling deviously._

" _April I got the… Don why is April's new toaster in parts?" Leo appeared holding a brown bag._

" _He took it apart because he wanted to see how the timer in it worked," the woman growled._

" _Couldn't resist, it was calling my name," the purple masked turtle explained shrugging._

" _Don, you better put it back together. Now!" Leo ordered and gave the bag to April._

" _No, no that's ok, first it's Don I guess he knows what he's doing. I would be more worried if it was Mike." April relented and smiled._

" _Hey!" Mike looked up from his seat pretending to be offended. April just laughed and walked away with the bag. Leo continued to glare at where Donatello was staring to reassemble the toaster._

" _Don, next time as permission,"_ _he said with hands on his hip. Don simply did an army salute without looking up from this work._

* * *

 _That was when we were still looking for a new lair, when we were fifteen and life was good…_ Leo closed his eyes and felt the tears trying to force themselves through. When he opened them again he saw both April and Casey watching him with concerned eyes.

"Leo, are you all right?" April asked worried. Leonardo realized that there would be no easy way to say it. He simply drew up the paper from his belt and gave it to the woman. Unsure what she was handling the woman saw it was actually an unmarked envelope.

"I put it in the envelope to protect the image," the turtle explained.

April removed the picture from the envelope and gasped in shock when seeing it. Casey quickly stood up and went to her to see what was on the photo. His eyes opened wide in surprise. Both humans looked at Leo, the same questions burning in their eyes.

"When was this picture taken?" April finally whispered.

"Few months ago," Leonardo answered. "By his daughter."

"Hi daughter?" Casey questioned surprised. The turtle nodded and told them about Erna and how he had by coincidence met her and identified her skills.

"Oh god… that means… he's alive." April grabbed her mouth. Casey put one arm around her for support. They still stared at Leonardo who was again fighting back the tears.

"All this time… in another country," the turtle muttered.

"Did she say anything about why or something?" the woman asked and swallowed the lump in her throat when Leo shook his head.

"She was… kind of breaking her promise by talking with me and Mike. Don didn't want her to contact us, she was just on a school trip here," he explained.

"Wait there something written on the back." Casey got the photo and flipped it over to see what was written there.

"Is that… is that an address?" April looked at the writing and then at Leo who shrugged.

"Could be, I don't really know. I can give you the address to the hotel she and her class were staying at so you can investigate it further. But… I really don't know if I should follow on this, if Don isn't ready to meet any of us he might react badly if we just pop up on his doorsteps," the blue masked turtle said sighing. "It was a nice girl and I really wouldn't want her to get in trouble for simply wanting to meet her family."

"Leo, this is your brother who we have thought was dead for twelve years after we searched for him high and low for a year, apparently in a wrong country to boot. You don't think thirteen years is enough time?" April asked waving the picture for emphasis.

"Maybe… she mentioned that he sometimes looks like he's about to call somewhere but changes his mind…" Leonardo said but he was still unsure.

"Sometimes you need a push to finally face things, maybe meeting you and Mikey is the push he needs," April suggested.

"Say, where did you say he was living?" Casey looked at the picture again. He noticed that the background didn't look like anything he had seen before. It looked kind of barren.

"A country named Iceland, it's in Europe," Leo shrugged. "Don't know anything more. How he got there is beyond me and how he has managed to live there with a child for this long I don't understand."

"So what are we going to do?" Casey asked looking at both April and the turtle.

"Well if Leo agrees, maybe we will be spending Christmas on Iceland," the woman looked at their ninja friend.

Leonardo dropped his head as he began thinking it over, the risks and the possible reunion. A small part felt anger towards his brother for abandoning them, but another simply longed to have him back. He had a chance now and had been given it.

"Leo I won't try find anything out if you say no, I can understand," he heard April say.

"No… let's do it," Leo said looking up smiling weakly. "I-I'm not sure though that I am ready either… but you are right. Thirteen years is plenty of time."

"You sure?" the woman asked and the turtle nodded.

 _Just hope we don't make things worse,_ Leonardo thought.

 **End Chapter 3**

* * *

 **A/N:** The flashback Leo has is kind of an insert to the first two Movies. It is happening sometime just before the beginning of the second movie at the time when the turtles lived with April while searching for a new lair after the events of the first movie.

When I originally revealed that Halldóra knew Donatello was not human, I was going to turn it into a running gag that pretty much everyone in the county they were living in were by now aware that Donatello wasn't human, but everyone respected his wishes to just stay "hidden". He wasn't harming anyone and and he was raising a good daughter, so they had no problem with him. It didn't happen in the end because I felt that was just too silly for a serious story like this one.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 22/01 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **Iceland**

"[That must be my father,]" Erna said when the cell phone suddenly rang. The girl drew it out of her pocket and nodded when seeing the screen. She pushed the button to answer it.

"[Hello father, the car is ready? Great, say listen father, remember back in summer when you thought that maybe one of our neighbors might have seen you?]" the girl held down her breath while listening to Donatello's answer.

"[Well you see, Halldóra was that neighbor, she saw you. She knows how you look like and what you are,]" Erna crossed her fingers and glanced uneasily at Halldóra. She mouthed 'If he sighs then he doesn't mind and will come and explain himself'. Then the teenager gave a thumbs up, Don had sighed.

"[Ok he's coming in,]" the girl announced and pushed the button to hang up. She looked at Katrín who sat at the table end. "[Now you get to meet the turtle a second time.]"

"[Yay.]" Her friend stuck out her tongue.

"[Katrín,]" Halldóra scolded but was surprised to see both girls giggle.

"[Sorry Halldóra, it's just that my father stays out of the way when Katrín comes so it's kind of a joke between us that she only got to see the turtle once,]" Erna explained to the older woman.

They heard the front door open and the obvious sounds of somebody stamping the snow of boots. There was some rustling as the winter clothes were removed. Next came footsteps as the person walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. Then there was a deep inhale.

"[He's bracing himself,]" Erna whispered. The door to the kitchen opened and Donatello walked in.

"[So my daughter told me you knew my secret,]" Don addressed Halldóra who nodded and smiled uneasily.

"[I'm sorry if it bothers you, I just used the opportunity since I was here. I have never told anybody, people would probably think I had finally cracked,]" the woman explained.

Don scratched his head and before sitting down at the table beside Erna. He never took his eyes of Halldóra, his daughter knew why. He was sizing her up, wondering if he could trust her.

"[Yes it does bother me a little if people know about me. I rather not risk exposure because I'm not willing to take the risk that the world would understand me. Your daughter already knows even though that was completely against my will.]" Don gave his daughter a short glance, she smiled sheepishly and looked down trying to hide her embarrassment. "[Then there are Jónína and Björn who help me with my repair work. Sometimes, if they can, they come with supplies so Erna doesn't have to do all the shopping, although I often order over the internet.]"

"[I won't tell anyone about you, I promise. I am in fact very glad for Erna to have such a wonderful father, no matter the species,]" Halldóra said and then glared at her own child. "[I wouldn't mind a few pointers on how to raise up such a polite and respectful daughter though.]"

"[I'm afraid some things just come out as extra surprises,]" Don said and put one arm around Erna and hugged her close. The teenager simply returned the gesture with a smile.

"[As for your car, I had to fix the fuel injection it was falling apart, but the shaking is probably due to misaligned tires. I'm afraid you have to go to a shop to have that fixed. I don't have a machine to align tires,]" he then explained.

"[Well if it's stopped sputtering and coughing I guess I can survive a shaky trip to the town,]" Halldóra nodded. "[So what do I owe you?]"

"[The repair cost is that you keep my identity secret.]" the Turtle smiled. Erna held down a sigh of relief, this meant her father had accepted it that Halldóra knew and was willing to put his trust on her.

"[Well, thanks and don't worry I will keep it secret. In fact I'll make sure nobody can trespass through my land that goes close to yours,]" Halldóra said.

Ten minutes later Don and Erna stood in the front doorway and were waving Katrín and her mother as they drove off. As soon as they walked back in and the door was closed, the happy feeling in the girl's stomach vanished when her father put one hand on her shoulder and asked.

"[So, you going to tell me about the trip?]"

 _[Oh crap I forgot.]_ she hoped he hadn't noticed her freezing but that hope was squashed quickly.

"[Something wrong sweetheart?]" Donatello stepped forward to be beside his daughter and looked at her.

"[No, nothing, just going to my room and get the pictures out of the suitcase,]" Erna answered abruptly and darted off into the direction of her room which was in the opposite direction and they were going.

"[Oh ok, I'll be in the living room,]" Donny called after her with a shrug.

Inside the girl's room Erna was sitting on her bed wondering how on earth she was going to get out of this one. She had already picked out the pictures she had managed to have developed while on the trip. Yet she had to work up the courage to go and face her father.

 _[I can't lie to him… I can't, he'll spot it right away.]_ Erna stood up and took a deep breath. Time to face the music and for some reason the theme from Jaws was humming in the back of her head.

In the living room Donatello was holding a framed photograph of his daughter when she was six years old. He chuckled when remembering how long it had taken him to get her to sit still. Erna had been a very hyperactive kid especially when she was six. He put the frame away when his daughter came in holding few pictures in her hand.

"[Let's just sit down and tell me everything.]" Don led her to the big brown sofa that was up against the west wall of the room. He noted that his daughter was slightly nervous but brushed it off for later. Maybe talking about the trip would calm her, maybe she was just excited.

"[Ok, here we are visiting the Statue of Liberty.]" Erna showed him the picture of the said statue. Don raised an eye ridge.

"[It hasn't changed much,]" he muttered and was handed the next picture. He was pretty much given full details of every tourist trap visit the class did. Don wasn't thus really surprised when the next part in the story was:

"[And then Katrín came to my room during our last day and suggested we go out on our own.]"

"[I trust you asked for permission,]" Don inquired, Erna nodded.

"[We got two hours and had to stay within the sight of the Hotel. We did that, found few shops to shop in,]" the girl began slowing down her speech as the story closed in on the final event of the evening. Donatello noticed that she was beginning to shake. He put one arm around her to comfort her.

"[What's wrong honey?]" he asked concerned. Erna didn't look at him; she stared attentively at her shaking hands.

"[We didn't tell anybody… Katrín and I were jumped by a mugger,]" she whispered.

"[Aw sweetheart.]" Don hugged her closer and used the free hand to hold one of her shaking ones.

"[He knocked Katrín out but I fought him, I managed to knock him out in turn,]" she continued although hesitantly.

"[That's good, you were protecting your friend and yourself. Your skills paid off. You are both alive and without a scratch,]" Donatello said soothingly, thinking now that his daughters nervousness was due to the mugging.

"[That's… not… all…]" Erna forced out. "[After I knocked him out… somebody asked me… asked me how I had learned to fight like that.]"

She could feel how he stiffened up. Don still had one arm around her and the hand still held hers. His grip tightened slightly, but Erna didn't look up and found the floor suddenly very fascinating.

"[And did you answer?]" he asked his voiced betrayed no emotions. Her hesitation was the only answer he needed. Slowly the hand holding her hand loosened and he lifted it to his face and began rubbing his temple tiredly. "What did you say?"

"[Erna! What did you say?]" he repeated when his daughter didn't answer. She swallowed something and prepared for the worst.

"[I told that my father had taught me.]"

"[What was the color of his mask?]" he asked rather sharply. Now first Erna looked up and saw much to her dismay that her father was obviously displeased.

"[Wh-what?]" she was confused about the question.

"[It's obvious you met one of them, otherwise you wouldn't be so nervous about it. What was the color of his mask?"] Don asked again. He still had one arm around her so there was no escape.

"[Blue and he carried swords,]" she answered looking away again. Erna heard him growl the name of her uncle.

"[What happened exactly after the mugging,]" he asked still with the same sharp tone.

The teenager was beginning to rub one arm nervously. She reluctantly told him about her encounter with Leonardo in the alley, up to the point when her uncle had taken the mugger and told her to go back to the hotel with Katrín.

"[Is that… Erna look at me!]" Don snapped and his daughter complied. He could see the regretful look on her face but at the moment it had no effect on him. "Is that all what happened?"

"[No… he came back,]" she admitted and cringed at the expression that came on her father.

"[You went to the lair.]" It was not a question that came from between his teeth.

"[Of course you did,]" he then shouted before she could answer and abruptly stood up. The turtle began pacing right in front of the sofa.

"[Why not? You got to meet your uncles finally, despite my orders to ignore them if you met them. Then of course you got to meet the rest of the family and let me guess, Raphael blames you for it that I'm here. I wouldn't be surprised. He always has to blame others, everything has to be someone's fault,]" he ranted and stopped pacing. Don glared down at his daughter who was now holding her arms tight around herself and fighting back the tears.

"[Why did you disobey me? Why did you show such disrespect towards my wishes?]" he asked.

"[I-I… I didn't mean to… it just happened,]" Erna stuttered and was on verge of crying, her father had never been so mad. In fact it took a lot to work him up.

"[IT JUST HAPPENED!?]" Donatello yelled waving the arms in agitation. He was holding back the temptation to haul his daughter up, lay her across his lap and spank her.

"[F-father… I-I'm sorry]" she whispered and finally covered her face with both palms and allowed the tears to come. Erna had figured he would be angry but not become mad like this.

Don stared at her for a moment before looking down at the floor. He really couldn't blame her, but she had both disregarded his orders and wishes. The turtle was not ready to face the past. He used one hand to rub his eyes for a moment, the other was on his hip.

"[Erna… go to your room. We'll talk about this later.]" His voice was darker than it should have been, but he was still not calm enough to speak like usual. Erna just nodded and stood up. She looked at him regretfully.

"[I just… I didn't mean to…]" she whispered before leaving the living room. As Erna closed the door behind her, she heard a loud crash and winched, some furniture had just been sacrificed. Now she knew why she had been sent to her room, her father was really, really mad.

* * *

Don stared at his hand, there were few splinters in it and the blood slowly oozed from the wound. In front of him was the living room table, smashed in half by a single stroke. The turtle sighed deeply before leaving the living room and went to the bathroom to clean up.

He removed the small wood pieces out of his hand and cleaned the wounds before wrapping bandage on it. The whole time the scene in the living room replayed again and again in his head.

 _Now they know… just a question of time before they come. It doesn't matter if she did or didn't give them the exact location. They could probably enlist April to find out. Erna's class was registered in a hotel so the name of the school must be registered as well._ Don examined his handiwork on the hand with indifference. He returned to the living room and sat down on the sofa.

 _Leo… couldn't he just leave well enough alone? Why did he have to…_ He could feel his anger rise again. He stood up and stalked to the phone that was near the living room door. He violently picked up the handset and proceeded to dial a number.

"Yes hello?" a familiar voice from the past spoke after a short dial tone.

"You couldn't just leave her alone could you?!" Donatello snapped when he recognized the voice on the other end.

"Wha?... Don?" Leo's jaw dropped when he realized who was on the other end.

"You just had to ask her. Have her both disrespect my orders and wishes!" the turtle shouted.

"Look Don…" Leonardo tried to speak but wasn't quick enough to get his brother's attention.

"She was not supposed to meet any of you, know of the lair or anything from my past. I knew if she met any of you she would be asked. Raphael better not have tried to scare the information out of her or so help me I'm going to brain that bastard with my Bo staff!"

 _He doesn't know about Raph, she hasn't told him._ Leo gulped this was not going to be easy.

"Don, what exactly did she tell you? Did she tell you anything?" he asked.

"She told me quite enough, the fact that you now know I'm alive. Ok, yes I'm alive, hurray. Been living quite happily here in Europe with my daughter, who I raised single handedly despite the odds against me, for 13 BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE! Here is an advice for you guys. DON'T come!"

* * *

 **New York.**

"Don wait, Raphael is…" Leo closed his eyes and sighed in frustration when there was a click and the phone dial began. His brother had hung up.

 _13 years of no contact and this?_ The blue clad turtle turned away from the phone and saw where Mikey stood in the kitchen doorway.

"W-what was that all about?" he asked his mouth wide open in shock. "Was that Donny?"

"Yes Mikey, that was Donatello." Leonardo shook his head. "Apparently he didn't get the full story from Erna or he didn't allow her to finish."

"Leo… we didn't get her in trouble did we? I mean I know she wasn't supposed to but… I hope she's all right. I could hear him all the way to the kitchen. He wasn't angry, he was mad." Mike gulped and rubbed one arm nervously.

"I know Mike, I was kind of stupid enough to have the handset near my ear when he shouted." Leo put one hand on the side where handset had been during the short phone call.

"What are we going to do?" the orange clad turtle asked. His brother narrowed his eyes and turned back to the phone, grabbed the handset and dialed another number.

"April, how does the research go? You have the name of the school and have confirmed the location and that this is an address? Ok listen April? Mikey and I are going to need ship plans, preferably cargo ships as they are easier to hide in. Find all ships that go directly to Iceland. And if you and Casey want to come, then start planning your trip," Leonardo spoke into the phone. He nodded a few times when April said something then said goodbye and hung up.

"Start packing Mikey, we are going on a trip and knock some senses into our brother. The time of confrontation has come." The blue masked turtle looked at Mike.

"Ah… you sure that is a good idea… I mean… he… well… didn't sound like he wants us," the younger ninja said unsure.

"Whether he wants us or not, he won't get a choice. If he isn't going to allow his daughter to tell then I'm going to tell him. I want my answers too, most importantly why he left and what happened between him and Raphael." Leonardo's voice was sharp. Mikey simply nodded and returned to the kitchen.

Leo walked to the couch and sat down with a groan. He began rubbing his forehead tiredly; the phone call had been shocking and almost disturbing. This had been Donatello on the other line, but never had he ever heard Don so mad. Usually when he seemed to have been losing his temper he simply clammed shut and went to his lab to fume there.

That was the Donny he remembered, he rarely showed his anger or frustration. Sure he sometimes voiced it occasionally but never bitterly and just like Mike he didn't hold grudges.

Except for now apparently, the threat Don had made on their deceased brother had deeply disturbed Leo. Now he was even more determined to learn what had happened between them.

* * *

 **Iceland**

Don sat on the small chair that was beside the little table that held up the phone. He nervously rubbed the wrist of his injured hand while thinking of the recent events.

In a strange way the phone call had calmed him down and yet he also felt guilty for calling like this. Using his anger to finally make the call he had been trying to make for months, after cutting them out for this long

But most importantly he felt horrible for how he behaved towards his daughter. She should not have been targeted by his anger. It was not her fault; she didn't know why he reacted so badly to the past. It was his fault for not telling her, maybe if she knew she would understand it.

Donatello rose up and walked out of the living room. He headed straight for his daughters room and knocked softly on the door.

"[Erna,]" he said and tried to turn the knob. It wasn't locked and the door opened. His daughter lay on her bed with face down, she didn't move but Don knew she was awake.

"[Erna… we need to talk.]" The turtle walked into the room. She didn't respond although her head turned so her face, red from crying, faced him.

He gently pushed her legs away so he could sit down on the bed. Erna instantly rose up and snuggled up closer to Don, wrapping her arms around him. Although she was a teenager she had never stopped seeking comfort like this from her father, when she was feeling scared and insecure he was her anchor and strength generator. She had her tantrums and rebellious days like any girl or a boy her age, but she never felt childish for still going to her father like this.

Don put both his arms around her in a comforting hug. He had never had any reasons to be angry at her, frustrated if she did something when she was younger and didn't always understand what she was doing. He couldn't remember raising his voice against her ever. Until today.

"[I'm sorry sweetheart. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shouted like this at you. It wasn't your fault,]" Don whispered softly and soothingly. He could still feel her nervousness and fear. She had known the risk but hadn't expected it to blow up in her face like this.

"[I'm sorry… it's just that… there are things that happened… they still hurt so much when I think about them. I've… I have never recovered fully from it,]" he continued and was now gently patting her back.

"[My father died from an illness. I tried to find a cure but I was too late. He died from some sort of a viral infection in his lungs. Few hours later I stumbled up on a cure. It tore me a part that I had found a way to save my father and I was too late,]" he kept going and Erna didn't interrupt him.

"[I was depressed and felt useless. I could hardly face my brothers without being guilt ridden. I felt and believed that they blamed me for this, blamed me for not saving our father. It didn't help me one bit when my brother, Raphael finally confronted me,]" Donatello hugged his daughter closer as the painful memory of what had happened surfaced. The tears came slowly down but he tried to keep them at bay.

* * *

" _Don, are you ok?" Mikey looked at his very silent brother. Donatello simply sat on the chair staring into air._

 _Leo looked up from his book and sighed. Their brother had been like this for days, ever since Splinter died. He put the book aside and leaned forward, staring at his brother._

" _Don, why don't you take a walk? Maybe it will cheer you up. I know this is hard; it's hard for all of us. Maybe you will find something at the city dump," Leo suggested with a smile._

" _Yeah… maybe," Donatello uttered and stood up slowly. Mikey stood up from the sofa at the same time._

" _Want me to come with you?" he asked. Donny shook his head and walked out of the living room and towards the ladder that led to the lair. Mike sat down again with a sigh._

 _Donatello could feel the tears in his eyes while he walked through the tunnels that would lead to the dump. He hadn't cried in front of them and probably wouldn't. He was sure they wouldn't care anyway._

 _He looked up when hearing footsteps and saw where Raphael came walking into his direction. Don sunk his head again and continued like he hadn't noticed his brother, but was forcefully made to do so._

 _Suddenly his shell was up against the wall and the purple clad turtle was pinned to it by Raph who looked furious. Donatello would have in normal circumstances seen the obvious giveaway signs that Raph was drunk, but now he didn't, just stared at his brother almost blankly._

" _You useless waste of oxygen. Why couldn't you save him? Why? WHY?" Raph growled in his slurred speech. The angry turtle got no reply, only silence. He started to shake Donatello violently._

" _I thought you were supposed to be smart. You could fix everything. Why couldn't you fix this? Why? You stupid fucking idiot, you are useless. We would be better off without you and relay on you to help us," Raphael snarled, then he violently pulled Don away from the wall and smacked him down with a punch. There he left his purple masked brother and continued growling and cursing to the lair._

 _Don gingerly touched his lip where Raph's fist had connected. He looked at his finger and saw the blood on it. He had paid no attention to the alcoholic stench streaming from Raphel or the fact that his brother walked in an almost zig-zag motion. He had no idea that his red clad sibling hadn't even realized what he had said and done._

 _He slowly stood up and continued to look at the blood on his finger. Slowly a tear crawled down from the corner of his eyes._

" _All right, I won't bother you anymore with my presence," he whispered. He sat down in the tunnel with his carapace up against the wall, pulled his legs up against his plastron and buried his face in his knees and cried._

* * *

Erna could feel him tremble and realized it was the first time he was actually facing this. The girl looked up and saw her father cry, she rose up slightly loosening slightly the hold they had on each other. She raised one hand and gently placed it on his beak.

"[Father… I need to tell you something,]" she whispered. Don just nodded and placed his hand over hers that was on his cheek.

"[Uncle Leonardo told me that Raphael regretted what he did to you, his last words were begging you forgiveness,]" Erna continued. Her father stared at her confused.

"[Father, Raphael is dead… he died ten years ago in a fight. He begged you to forgive him… he said he didn't mean what had said. Father, I think… no I'm sure Raphael still loved you as do your other brothers. They never blamed you for this.]"

"[Raphael… dead…]" Don whispered and closed his eyes. Fresh stream of tears burst through and he hugged his daughter closer and she hugged him back.

The turtle was still not sure if he could face his other brothers. Then he remembered the phone call he had made and felt even guiltier for his threat against his brother.

 **End chapter 4**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN/:** Chapter originally written and posted on 25/01 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **New York**

Leonardo glanced at the clock when he was suddenly roused by a sound. It was only half an hour until the alarm would have woken him up. The turtle listened closely and realized the sound was sobbing.

 _Mikey._ Leo rose from the bed and walked to the door of his room. Sliding them open he saw Mikey on the couch.

The usually blue masked turtle stepped out and walked to his brother who occasionally gave a slight sob. He seemed to be trying to be quiet and didn't look at Leonardo when he sat down beside him.

"What's wrong Mikey?" Leo asked, placing one hand on his brother's shoulder. Mike sniffled before he answered.

"Leo… what if he… what if he really doesn't want to see us?" he whispered. "What if he gets mad and… attacks us?"

"Mike, that won't happen. I won't allow it to happen," Leo answered but he understood his brother's fear. Donatello had not been quiet in the phone, Mike had heard him and it was still bothering him.

"He told us not to come," Mike pointed out and first now turned his tearstained face towards his brother.

"Mike… yes he was angry and thought that we perhaps intimidated his daughter. I don't think she lied to him; she probably didn't get to finish her story. Whatever caused Donatello to run away is obviously still hurting him, but we can't abandon him. He needs us even if he doesn't like to admit it," Leonardo explained to the orange-clad turtle.

"Leo…I shouldn't be afraid of Donny… but his voice… I don't think I want to meet him," Mike whispered. Leo squeezed his shoulder slightly and sighed.

"Don't believe that Mike, don't bluff yourself like that. I know you want to meet him again. You two were awful close back in the days. I mean you two did almost everything together, between you and Raph, he tolerated you the most about breaking things," he told his brother and smiled. "Don't worry Mike, when we go there and finally arrive, I will talk to him. I will confront him first."

Mike simply nodded, relenting to the idea that they were going and seeing their long lost brother. Leo patted him on the shoulder and stood up.

"It's still early, if you want you can sleep for a little while longer," he offered but the orange-masked one shook his head and reached for the remote for the TV.

Leo smiled and walked towards the kitchen. They were surprised to hear the phone suddenly ring. The two turtles looked at each other and then at the phone. Leonardo dashed for it and answered.

"Hello, Leonardo here," the turtle answered and his eyes opened wide.

"Well this is a surprise, well yeah. So how are you doing?" he asked and nodded when the caller answered.

"Well it's very early in the morning here, yes. You are calling from the school? Oh ok." Leo looked at Mike and mouthed 'Erna'.

"Uh uh, oh so you heard that. Yeah we were a bit shocked. Ok, he didn't give you a chance to tell the full story. I understand. No that's ok, we are fine. We understand that this is difficult for him. Say where did you get the number?" Leo blinked for a moment when he got the answer to his question.

"Look, I really don't want you to get in trouble on our account. I do appreciate you calling and clearing this up. You really didn't have to go through this trouble. Ok I see, well that's all right. Well thanks still for calling. Mikey says hi, good bye and good luck in school," Leonardo then hung up and turned to his brother.

"This girl actually sneaked into her father's study and swiped our phone number from his journal. She wanted to call us and make sure we didn't think she had lied to her father about us. Apparently she heard him as well, not surprisingly," Leo scratched his head. "And to be on the safe side she called from her school. I guess she didn't want Don to know she called."

* * *

"Hm he's probably unlisted." April threw the thick book to the sofa that was in her study and turned her attention back to the computer.

"Huh?" Casey walked in at that moment holding two cups of hot coffee. He gave April one.

"I got a phone book from a friend at the station. She swiped it when on a trip to Iceland few years ago. I figured that maybe Don would be in it because he has lived there for so long," the woman explained. "It was a small hope anyway. Doesn't really matter, we have the address."

"So what have you found out?" the man asked as he sat down in the sofa and grabbed the thick book and raised an eyebrow when seeing the colorful image on it.

"Well I did find Erna Hamato and where she lives, I had to go through the school's homepage though. Not an easy task, it was completely in Icelandic. I had to borrow this from my friend as well." April waved an Icelandic-English dictionary.

"So why look through a phone book if you knew already?" Casey wondered and began going through it.

"Just curious to see if he was in it, would have been nice to see a familiar name," the woman shrugged.

"So where does he live there?" Casey wondered. April turned the chair to face him; she was holding a map and unfolded it.

"See, here is the capital," She pointed at a large red spot in the southern part of the island; it was at a bottom of a large bay. April then traced her finger to another black spot. "This is the nearest town to where he lives. That's also the location of where his daughter goes to school. He lives in a farm somewhere in this area."

"Hm, that's not very far I would say," Casey muttered when he looked at the distance from the black spot and the red spot.

"No, I would maybe say half an hour, forty five minutes' drive. Of course it's a whole another matter when we have to locate his farm." April made a large circle around the black spot indicating the possible area of its location.

"Maybe if we go to the school and wait for his daughter. Leo and Mikey have already met her so they know how she looks like," the man suggested.

"We need to speak with Leo about that, he is the one with the plan on what we do," April said. Both humans looked up when there was a knock on a window outside of the living room. Casey jumped out of the sofa and ran out.

"Jeez guys, you two are actually risking daylight?" she heard him say, the man returned and was followed by two turtles.

"Hello Leo and Mikey." April smiled at the two ninjas.

"Hey April, so what have you managed to find out?" Leo asked as he got seated in the sofa. Mikey chose to remain standing. The woman told the turtles what she had already told Casey and showed them the map.

"Interesting shape of the country," Leonardo noted when looking at the map. Mikey grinned and pointed at the large north-western part of the island.

"That looks like a head and this peninsula could be the hand," he said and then pointed at the peninsula that was below the head like part of the country.

"And here is the foot." Leo grinned and pointed at the lowest peninsula that bore an uncanny similarities to a boot.

"What's those white spots," the orange clad turtle pointed at the large white blobs scattered around the island.

"Glaciers, one of the biggest glacier in Europe is in Iceland, this one," April pointed at a particularly large white spot on the eastern part of the country.

"The country looks so, brown," Leo lifted the map. "There are few green spots near the coastline, but otherwise its looks almost barren."

"Oh that reminds me, I have to show you guys these pictures of the landscape I found." The woman turned back to the computer and few clicks later the screen was littered with pictures. Mikey, Leo and Casey all leaned forward to see the pictures.

"Uh, are those all from the same country?" Mikey asked surprised.

"There aren't many trees. Nothing that could provide concealment," Leo noted instantly.

"Yeah, I found out that there aren't many forests, the biggest ones are on the northern and eastern part of the country," April told them.

"So what is this?" Mike turned back to the sofa and spotted the phone book. He picked up and began rushing through it. "Hey, is this a phone book?"

"Hm? Yeah, phone book from Iceland," April answered.

"Huh, I wonder," Mike mused and began actually actively searching. Leo turned around to see what his brother was up to and looked over his shoulder.

"Hak… Hal… aw no name starts with Ham," Mike pouted. April looked at him.

"Wait, where you looking for Donatello's name in the book?" she asked.

"Yeah, stupid idea, the number is probably unlisted, but you never know," the turtle shrugged.

"I should have warned you, you don't look for the last name first. You look for the first name. My friend who loaned me the book warned me about this. They list phone numbers after the person's first name not the last name, so you would look for Donatello under the D," she said. All the males in the room stared at her very surprised when hearing that.

"But I have already checked, it's not there," she added and turned once more back to the computer.

"Weird country," Mike muttered.

"Oh and here is interesting fact, it has over 130 volcanic mountains and of them 18 are considered either dormant or active," April then said. Leo turned his head towards the woman with an unsure face. Mikey looked utterly horrified.

"18 active volcanoes? It's a suicide country," he shouted.

"Active or dormant, not all of them will erupt on the minute and some of them haven't done anything for centuries," April clarified, but Mike now held the phone book tight like it was a security blanket.

"Donny must be nuts to be living there," he muttered.

"Ok enough jokes, we need to focus on why we are going there. To help our brother who is still suffering from what happened 13 years ago," Leo said and looked at the map he still held.

"How hard do you think it will be to locate the farm on our own April?" he asked the woman.

"Probably not difficult but could take some time, the possible locations are many," she explained.

"I was kind of hoping that we wouldn't need any aid for it, I would prefer we come there completely on our own. I rather not get my niece in any more trouble with her father than she already is in because she coincidentally got in contact with us," Leo said. "Ok before we completely formulate a plan, did you get ship records April?"

"Yeah, I found one company that ships between Iceland and USA. It goes regularly and the ships it utilizes should be big enough for you guys to hide in," April then gave Leo a long list. "These are the traveling plans of ships that go to Iceland during the next few weeks."

"Ok Mikey and I can pick few of those, are you and Casey coming?" Leo asked and both humans nodded. "When do you think you both can go?"

"Well my boss says I can take two weeks more vacation time," April explained.

"And since I'm in-between jobs I am free all times," Casey stated.

"It's only a month to Christmas now, Mikey and I can stay of course much longer than you guys. Maybe if we went first and made sure that Don doesn't bash us into pieces, then you guys come once the coast is clear?" Leo suggested.

"You guys need to get from the harbor and to Don's home and that's at probably over half an hour drive on a car. What I have gathered, the Icelandic weather is very unforgiving during winter time," April told the turtle. Leonardo frowned realizing that she had a point.

"There are no trains or anything?" he asked just to make sure.

"The only public transport is a bus and taxi," she answered.

"You know I could go and pick the guys up when they land and we go find Donny. Then we can contact you when it's over and you can come," Casey suggested. The others all looked at him, both Leo and April nodded.

"Not a bad idea," Leo looked at the list of the ships. "Go and check when you can get a plane ticket and we will select a ship based off from that."

 _I just hope we aren't going to regret this,_ he thought as Casey stood up and left the study. The turtle looked at Mike and grinned slightly.

"Well Mikey, looks like we might just be going in few days if possible," he said to his brother who just nodded.

* * *

 **Iceland**

"[Thanks for the lift, see you after the weekend,]" Erna said goodbye to Katrín and Halldóra and the drove off. The girl shifted the bag a bit so it hung on only one shoulder and walked towards the house.

After yesterday she hoped things would be a little bit better. Her father had been in a better mood after their talk in her room but she could still see the sadness in him and guilt.

"[Father, I'm home,]" she called but got no answer. Erna guessed then that Donatello was in the barn, or maybe in the basement.

She sighed and put the bag into her room and then went straight to the laundry room. It was time for her punishment for having disobeyed. She was to clean the bathroom all on her own and then report to the training room.

Erna gathered up the cleaning supplied from the laundry room and headed for the bathroom. She hated cleaning it and her father was all too well aware of that and used it as a punishment. She especially hated cleaning the toilet. The girl had hoped that there would be a slim change of escaping punishment after how yesterday went, but no Donatello stated firmly that although he could understand how things happened, it didn't change the fact that she went against his orders. He would not tolerate that.

She began her cleaning duties but saw soon that her father was taking it easy on her. The bathroom was already fairly clean compared to other times it needed cleaning. She finished much quicker than usual when it was her turn to clean it during regular housework.

After returning the cleaning supplies the teenager changed into her workout clothes and climbed the stairs down into the basement. She found her father there, fully engaged in a Bo kata.

"[You have finished the bathroom?]" he asked without faltering once in the complicated movements.

"[Yes sensei,]" Erna answered and bowed to show proper respect for the dojo before walking in.

Donatello finished the kata and Erna took position right in front of him. They bowed for each other.

"[All right before practice starts, 25 five back flips and 25 pushups,]"" he declared with arms folded. Erna just about managed to restrain her jaw to drop in surprise. But she knew he didn't kid around in the dojo. This was the second part of her punishment.

"[Grab your Jo staff and take position,]" Donatello ordered once she had finished with her punishment.

Erna wondered if parents took some sadistic pleasure in punishing their children when they misbehaved. Yet she felt somehow lucky that her father seldom did punish her, but in the rare cases it did happen he could be horribly creative.

"[Now, I'm not an expert in the nunchaku but I at least know how to use them,]" Donatello said, he had replaced his Bo staff for a pair of chucks. "[It's important to know how to defend yourself against properly against them. They might look innocent but they can deal a serious damage.]"

Erna took position in front of her father and they began sparring. Donatello cringed a bit when he did a very amateurish move with the chucks and was very clad that his brother Michelangelo wasn't around to see it. Erna did decently against him and he actually began wondering how she would fair against his chuck master brother.

* * *

" _Ow,"_ _Don shook his hand where the nunchaku had hit him. Mikey was in front of him grinning and swirling his weapon with practiced ease._

" _Those really hurt." Don took position again and they resumed the light sparring. This was the first time they were facing each other with their weapons. Leonardo and Raphael sparred nearby using theirs. They didn't go full out while still getting used to the feel of._

" _Yes, the nunchaku can be a deadly weapon in the right hand but so can the Bo," Splinter said to this students as they circled each other and tried to score a hit._

" _Yeah but you can't do this with those swirlers." Don shot the staff downward and prepared to trip Mike by placing the staff between his legs. His orange-clad brother saw the attack coming and two set of chains wrapped around the staff and then the turtle yanked the weapon out of his brother's hands._

' _It's a good rule to never announce your plan of action to your adversary Donatello,' Splinter advised with a slight chuckle._

" _Hrmpf." Don picked up his staff again, spun it and now began the sparring again. Then he got an idea. Mikey frowned when his brother actually tried to repeat the move from earlier._

 _The orange clad turtle answered with the same move but before he could pull the Bo out of Don's hands, the purple clad turtle suddenly jerked his staff to the side and pried the nunchakus out of Mike's hand. Donny then effortlessly used the staff to sweep him off the floor._

" _Michelangelo, be more wary if your adversary utilizes the same move twice. There is always an off chance he has something else in mind," Splinter told his son who was standing up and grumbling about cheating brothers._

* * *

"[Sensei?]" Erna noticed that her father didn't seem to be concentrating on the sparring. She eyed an opening and thrust her Jo staff down in hope to sweep him off his feet.

"[The Jo is too short for this move.]" Don was apparently still paying attention and used the chucks to wrap around the short staff and disarmed his daughter. "[It brings you too close to your adversary.]"

"[You looked distracted Sensei, so I figured it would be safe,]" Erna explained as she retrieved her staff. Suddenly she tripped and fell to the floor. Donatello stood over her with arms folded, he had used a chuck to trip her.

"[Don't always trust your eyes, they can be lied to,]" he said with a slight grin. His daughter rose up grumbling something unheard.

They sparred for another two hours using various weapons that were available to them. Don then finished the practice and they bowed.

"[Erna.]" Don put a hand on her shoulder just before they walked together out of the dojo.

"[Yes father?]" She looked at him and noticed that he was uneasy and scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"[Erna… it's going to be a question of time when they come,]" he said. Erna frowned and didn't get for a moment who he was talking about, but realized quickly and stifled a gasp.

"[H-how do you figure?]" she asked. They began ascending up the stairs out of the basement.

"[I know them, they will come now that they both know that I am alive and where I live,]" he explained to her. "[It wouldn't have mattered if you gave them a street address or not. Your school was registered with the hotel so they can simply trace it from there anyway.]"

"[Ok.]" Erna nodded, she hadn't actually had any chance to tell him what had happened when she was in the lair, so Donatello didn't know about the picture or the message she had written.

"[When they come… I can't promise that I will be on my best behavior. I… I can't tell how I will react. Part of me would welcome them with open arms… but another would want to violently throw them out,]" he told her as they stepped into the main hallway of the house.

"[Father', I won't ask you to promise to behave yourself. But I will ask you to try, they are your brothers and miss you,]" she said patting his left cheek gently.

"[Maybe so… but…]" Donatello recalled the phone call yesterday again and shook his head. "[All right, I will try.]"

"[Are you still afraid of facing them?]" Erna asked while they walked towards the living room. Her father nodded immediately without hesitation.

"[I fear both their reactions and mine,]" he stated.

He walked alone into the living room as his daughter had to retreat to her own room to do her homework. The turtle only stopped for a short moment there before returning back to the hallway and took the direction of the study.

There he sat at down at his desk and from a hidden drawer under it he pulled out a key. He used it to unlock a small cupboard on the desk. Inside was a black box. He rescued it from its resting place, placed it on the table and took a deep breath before opening it.

Inside were few old photos and some notes. The photos all contained four mutant turtles, most of them smiling and having fun. The background was an old farmhouse, or the area around it.

Donatello shuffled through the pictures until he stopped on a particular one. The turtles had posed for it with their weapons. On it he held his Bo staff high in the air and leaned slightly to the right.

Leonardo had his katana drawn and in a ready battle position in the front, Michelangelo only had one chuck up but had it in a familiar placement using both hands, placing the nunchaku over his shoulder. He was to the left. In the rear was Raphael the only one not smiling, he was grim faced and his eyes almost piercing.

He recalled when this picture was taken. It was the last time they had all four been together on the farm for some much needed rest. Two weeks later their father had gotten sick and died of his ailment. Few days after that, Donatello disappeared out of the lair.

Don's eyes were always on Raphael. The piercing stare, it had often shaken their enemies who knew little of them.

" _Y_ _ou are useless. We would be better off without you and relay on you to help us."_ The last word he had heard his red clad brother speak to him repeatedly played in his mind. They were just as painful and when he heard them the first time.

" _[He begged you to forgive him… he said he didn't mean what had said.]"_ He then remembered his daughter's words after she told him that Raphael was dead.

He continued to stare at the picture; it was almost as he was in a staring contest with it. His mind continued to either reply Raphael's last words to him or what his daughter had told him.

After few minutes he finally took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Two tears crawled down each corner; he sniffled slightly before lifting the eyelids to stare once more at the picture. A small smile crawled on his beak. Another set of tears came down.

"Alright… alright, Raph," he whispered softly. "I forgive you… I forgive you… I know you didn't mean it."

Something heavy seemed to lift off his heart and the turtle swallowed the forming lump in his throat. With the back of the right hand he dried the tears from his beak. Looking at the picture one final time he could have sworn a flicker of a smile was suddenly on Raphael's grim face. Don shook his head and placed it again in the box with the rest.

The box returned to the cupboard that was then locked and the key returned to the secret drawer. Don wondered though if this would be as easy once his remaining brothers came eventually.

A moment of dread fell over him. He buried his face into the palm of his hands. Why did he have to face all of this now suddenly? For 13 years he had never had to worry about being found and suddenly now he would be forced to face his past, he was already facing his past. A part of him wanted to run into his bedroom and hide under the bed until it was all over.

 **End chapter 5**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 04/02 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 **Iceland**

"[These are the latest,]" the older man said as he picked up a big box from the back of his truck and handed it to Donatello.

"[Let's see, a toaster, electric can opener, and a small traveling TV. If I don't need spare parts, this will take me two or three days,]" the turtle said as he peeked into the box.

"[Take your time son, the people who own this stuff doesn't need it until next month,]" the old man said patting Don's shoulder. He reached again into the truck and pulled out two plastic bags. "[And here are groceries.]"

"[Ah thank you.]" Donatello nodded with a smile. The two then walked towards the house. "[So, how is Jónina doing?]"

"[The knee is still bothering her, the doctor back in town wants her to go to the capital to see a specialist,]" the man told him. They walked up the steps leading to the front door. It opened and Erna stood in the doorway.

"[Here Björn, let me take that.]" She walked immediately out to take the bags from the old man.

"[Thank you dear, I hope this is everything you need.]" He handed the teenager the bag.

"[If we really need anything, I'm sure we can manage,]" Don claimed and shifted the box in his arms to hold it more properly. "[You want to come in for a coffee?]"

"[I am afraid I must go. But thank you anyway Aron, you just call when the stuff is ready so I can pick it up.]" The man smiled and scratched his beard. After shaking hands with the turtle, he returned to the truck and drove away.

"[More things to fix?]" Erna asked as she and her father walked in.

"[Just three basic electronics except for the TV. I just hope I don't need spare parts or if I do, that I already own them,]" Don answered and managed to remove his boots without putting the box down. He carried it into his study. Erna took the bags to the kitchen.

 _Let's see its Sunday,_ Don put the box on the table and checked the calendar. _I can mark Wednesday as the earliest._

He picked up a pen and did a small cross over next Wednesday. He picked up the electronics and carried them to a workbench in one corner of the study room. The box he put down beside his desk.

"[Hey look father, Jónína sent us cookies.]" Erna walked into the room holding a metal box.

"[Really now.]" Don turned away from his workbench. His daughter showed him the open container. The turtle grabbed one cookie from it and so did the girl.

"[If we didn't practice every day, she would make us fat.]" The turtle grinned and suddenly snatched the box from the teenagers. "[Now give me that.]"

"[Hey!]" Erna protested and tried to get the box back but her laughing father held her back with one hand and used the other to hold the container away.

"[Give that back, I want more,]" she shouted and struggled to get closer.

"[I don't think so, your hyper enough as it is. More sugar and you will be breaking the sound barrier when you move,]" Don teased and held the cookie box just out of reach.

"[I'm not hyper,]" Erna grunted but was having hard time not to laugh herself. Donatello raised an eye ridge.

"[I beg to differ, I stopped running laps in my practices when you were little because I was always running after you,]" he said with a teasing grin.

Erna now grabbed hold of Don's arms and suddenly swung herself so she landed on his back. She grabbed a firm hold around his neck with one arm while trying to reach the box with the other.

"[Hey, aren't you a bit old to be climbing up your father like this,]" Don laughed and switched the box to the other hand so it was out of reach in the position Erna was in. She tried to shift but that caused her father to simply return the box back to the previous hand.

"[I am going to get that box even if that's the last thing I do!]" the girl laughed and now tried simply to climb over his shoulder. Donatello swiftly threw the box so it landed perfectly on the work bench without spilling a single cookie. Then he grabbed a hold of his daughter and swung her over his shoulder and trapped her in a bear hug.

"[GAH!]" Erna shouted when her father began tickling her mercilessly, but he didn't hold her for long and let her go.

"[I am so going to get you for that,]" she grumbled but didn't lose the smile. The teenager darted for the cookie box and picked it up from the bench. Donatello just watched her with arms folded and smiling.

"[You had better go to work, no more cookies for you.]" The girl stuck her tongue out and quickly jumped out of the study. Don couldn't hold it and laughed again.

He was beginning on the toaster when the phone rang. Donatello glanced at the clock, not many knew their phone number and it was unlisted. He figured it was probably one of Erna's friends, although they usually called her cell phone.

"[Yes hello?]" the turtle heard Erna pick up the phone. "Oh sorry, yes I speak English. Somewhat."

 _What?_ Don frowned, who would request to be spoken with in English? He stood up and walked out of the study and headed straight to the living room.

"Ah… I'm not…" Erna couldn't get further; her father appeared and took the handset from here.

"Yes hello, who is this?" he asked and there was a gasp on the other line. Donatello gritted his teeth, he suspected who that was.

"Don?" it was a woman's voice. Donatello closed his eyes and sighed, there wasn't a moment's peace from his past since his daughter returned from New York. He glared at the girl who quickly shook her head; she had given nobody their number.

"How did you get this number?" the turtle asked in low almost growling voice.

"I found it… on your daughter's school homepage," April confessed. "I'm sorry Don, I just had to. We haven't…"

Donatello hung up, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Without even looking at Erna he walked out of the living room and returned to his study. The girl stood still in front of the phone shocked. Who had that woman been?

Erna left the living room slowly and approached Don's study room. As she stood in the doorway of it, she could see her father working furiously on taking the toaster apart. She braced herself and walked in.

"[I'm sorry father… I guess if I hadn't told them… this wouldn't have happened,]" the teenager apologized. Don stopped working and turned to face her.

"[Hey, don't you dare say that. Don't you dare take the blame for this,]" he said and held out his hand in gesture for her to come.

"[Look… as much as I hate to admit it, this would probably have happened eventually anyway,]" Don said as he held her hands with his own. "[I… I have been working up my nerves to call them for months now. I just didn't want to admit it. It was quite a shock for me that you had met them and told them. I knew that would happen if you did, which is why I told you not to meet them.]"

"[Who was that on the phone?]" Erna asked. Donatello sighed and looked down at the floor. It took him a moment before he could glance back up at his daughter.

"[Her name is April O'Neil… she was the first human my brothers and I had contact with. She became a very good friend, a surrogate sister, even mother sometimes.]" The turtle squeezed slightly Erna's hands as he worked up the nerves to continue. He didn't know if any of his family had figured it out and this would be the first time he openly admitted it.

"[We all had a slight crush on her when we first saw her, it changed into a good friendship with the others… but not for me. The crush changed into love,]" Don whispered. "[I stepped aside when she got together with another human friend we made, Casey Jones. I figured back then it was for the best, after all we are two different species.]"

"[Oh father,]" Erna hugged Donatello who returned it tightly.

"[It hurts even more to hear her voice again after all these years. I had hoped I was over it but… but I still love her and yet I know she can't be mine.]"

* * *

 **New York:**

"Who were you calling hon'?" Casey came walking into the living room holding a newspaper. April sat in the chair closest to the phone; she had one hand over her mouth and looked to be calming herself down.

"I'm sorry… I just had to," she said.

"Had to what?" the man asked while sitting down on a chair close to hers. He didn't take his eyes of her, wondering why she sounded so upset.

"I discovered Donatello's phone number. I called him," April answered. Casey's eyes opened wide in surprise and his jaw dropped.

"Y-you called him?" he asked. The woman nodded and dropped the hand from the mouth to fold her arms.

"We lost a friend 13 years ago, Casey. I want him back now since it's possible," she whispered. Her husband folded up the paper and put it aside. He then stood up and crouched down in front April.

"That's why the guys and I are going over there honey. The guys take a ship today and I take the plane tomorrow. I'll meet with them in the capital and we drive to Donny's and try talking some senses into him. Then you will come, we will reunite the rest of the family," he explained with a small smile. Then he took her in a hug. "It will be alright."

"Yes I know, it's just that he sounded so angry on the phone," the woman said. "I'm worried about how he will react when you guys show up unannounced."

"Hey, Leo said he would handle him. I doubt he's going to allow Don any bullshit with us," Casey grinned slightly. "Don't worry April, we'll get Donny back."

* * *

"Where are we going Leo?" Mikey asked as he leaped over the rooftop.

"Sorry Mike, we have to go to Brooklyn. The only ship that goes to Iceland from New York is in docks there," Leo answered. They had been rooftop leaping for an hour now.

"Couldn't Casey or April have taken us there?" the orange-clad ninja complained.

"We need the workout," Leonardo claimed.

They continued in silence until they finally came to the bridge that would lead from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Mike wondered how they would cross it without being seen.

"You remembered packing your disguise right?" Leo asked while taking off his backpack. Mikey froze when hearing that. His blue clad brother shook his head realizing that his brother had forgotten.

"I don't know what you would do without me," he sighed and pulled out a trench coat and a hat and gave it to his brother. Then he pulled out another set.

"Please don't joke about that Leo," Mike begged with an uneasy face. Leo closed his eyes and mentally scolded himself. Sometimes he completely forgot that Mikey was more sensitive now.

"Sorry Mike, just dress up, we will cross the bridge like regular walking people," Leo said and gave his brother a reassuring smile.

They donned the disguises and climbed down the building. They crossed the long bridge while being careful not making any eye contact. Thankfully, since it was late, there weren't many people and any cars passing by ignored two shadowy shapes crossing the bridge.

Once in Brooklyn they quickly and silently climbed up a nearby building and on the rooftop removed the disguises. Once coats and hats were in the backpacks again the two turtles began the long journey to the right dock.

"So how long is it until the ship leaves?" Mikey wondered.

"Plenty of time, two hours at least," Leo told him. "It's a cargo ship, not large but it only has a crew of eleven so it's easy to hide as long as we don't make much sound."

"How do you know?" the orange masked ninja asked surprised. Leo looked at him slightly smug.

"It's an urban legend that computers explode at my touch," he said grinning.

"You used Don's computer?" the younger turtle was visibly startled but calmed down when his older brother shook his head.

"I used April's, relax. I did not go into Don's lab or room," Leonardo explained. "But I looked up the information about the ship we will be taking. It is from an Icelandic company and goes straight from America to Iceland. It usually lands in Boston but due to some scheduling errors it had to come to New York City instead."

Finally they reached the harbor where they would find the ship. The two turtles perched themselves on a warehouse near the docks. Leo pointed for Mikey at a long black ship. In the rear on a small flagpole waved two flags in the breeze, the American one and another the orange-clad one wasn't familiar with.

"What is that red blue and white one that forms a cross?" he pointed at the flags.

"The Icelandic flag, since this is an Icelandic ship they flag theirs but since they are also visiting this country they also have ours up," Leonardo told him. Mikey squinted his eyes to see the white letters on the hull that told the ships name.

"Brr-brru brrr ah um… you know how say the name?" he asked.

"Bruarfoss," Leo said and got a glance from his brother. "What?"

"Don't tell me you looked up the information how to say it?" Mike asked startled. Leo shook his head.

"April did," he smiled. "It means 'Bridge Falls'. The ship is named after a waterfall in Iceland."

"Cool," Mikey simply said. "So how are we going onboard?"

Leo reached for his backpack and pulled out of it a grappling hook and showed it to his brother. The two turtles leaped off the warehouse and darted closer to the ship, being careful to stick to the shadows.

They got onboard without an incidence; most of the crew was still inside the ship itself preparing it for departure. The harbor workers wouldn't come for another hour.

The two turtles found a good place in the cargo hold behind two large containers. They got themselves as comfortable as possible while waiting for the ship to depart. Once it was away from the dock Leo planned on finding a better place to hide in and probably warmer. For now they were staying away from the crew while it was the most active.

"Leo," Mikey looked at his brother after half an hour of waiting.

"Yeah?" the blue masked turtle glanced his way.

"I'm scared," the orange-masked one confessed and rubbed his hands nervously. "What if Donny hates us."

Leo scooted closer and put one arm around his younger brother's shoulder. He sighed heavily, wondering how to answer that correctly.

"I don't know Mike. I'm going to talk with him, get the answers out of him. If he hates us then there is little we can do but hope we can change his mind. I have a feeling he doesn't hate us, but is scared. Scared to face us," he said.

"I'm scared to face him." Mike huddled closer to Leo. He remembered the phone call all too well.

"I know Mike," his brother said. "Frankly, I'm worried about our eventual encounter as well."

"Oh?" Mike glanced at him curiously.

"Part of me wants to beat him up for abandoning us like that; part of me is so angry and disappointed that he just left us. However, another just wants to go there and grab him and refuse to let him go until he accepts us back as his family," Leo told the other turtle.

"Mike, I ask you not to get your hopes up. We don't know what will happen, be prepared for anything. I do not how he will behave… and I don't know how I will behave." The blue masked ninja shook his head. "This is going to be very challenging."

They were startled when the ship's horn suddenly sounded, indicating that departure was imminent. The two turtles felt it when the large ship began slowly moving away from the dock.

"Well, there is no going back now," Leo said with a slight grin. "We're off."

"I hope I don't get sea sick," Mikey muttered.

"I'm not sure turtles can get sea sick, but then again we aren't sea turtles." The older ninja shrugged.

"Wait, Leo its December right?" Mikey looked at Leo a bit startled. His brother nodded.

"And it's winter in Iceland too." the orange clad turtle eyes were open wide in shock as he realized that important detail. Leonardo smiled when he figured out what his brother was worried about.

"Don't worry, Casey will be there before us. He will be with warm clothes for us to wear. We are just going to have to do with blankets for now or the trench coats," he explained. Mikey sighed in relief placing one hand on the plastron.

"So," the youngest turtle said as he got more comfortable where he sat. "Are we there yet?"

* * *

 **Iceland.**

"[Feeling better?]" Erna asked when she brought her father a tea in the study.

"[Yeah.]" Donatello smiled at her and accepted the cup. While he was sipping the tea, his daughter noticed that he was still working on the toaster.

"[So what's wrong with this one?]" she wondered. Donatello put the cup on the workbench before he took up a screwdriver and pointed with it at a certain part of it.

"[See those springs here, they have been squashed so the toaster won't pop the bread up like it should so I need to replace them. I got spares in the barn, I'll get them later and finish the toaster tomorrow. But right now I'm just making sure nothing else needs replacing in it,]" he explained and picked the cup up again and drank from it.

"[I was thinking if I could order a pizza for dinner,]" Erna wondered with a slight innocent smile. Don glared at her, pizza and other junk food was rarely on the menu and with the recent events he wasn't sure if she was worthy of that luxury for now.

"[Pizza you say.]" He sipped from the cup and then took another look at his daughter who clasped her hands together and produced a disturbingly familiar puppy dog face.

 _Ok, when my daughter begins acting like Mikey, then it's time to get worried,_ Don thought but couldn't help himself and chuckled. "[Okay, Okay, order a pizza. Extra onions and ham on my half remember.]"

"[Thanks father,]" Erna hugged him tight and skipped out of the study. Donatello scratched his beak with the screwdriver while he watched her leave. Then he shook his head and turned back to his work muttering 'kids'.

He finally determined that the toaster did not need more spare parts and put the tool in his hand away. He glanced at the clock and realized it was time to head for the barn. His evening tractor ritual was up.

The turtle stood up and walked out of the study. He heard Erna in the living room; she was on the phone ordering the pizza. It made sense since it would take the delivery person some thirty minutes to drive all the way to their house.

Donatello was in fact surprised that the pizza places delivered so far away from their places, but they did so he was not one to complain. He guessed since the pizza parlor was in the local town that was small, they tried expanding their business to the surrounding farms as well.

Erna finished placing the order and hung up. She just heard the front door slam and glanced at the clock.

 _[Ah, time for the tractor,]_ she thought and left the living room. Erna picked up her cell phone and went into her bedroom while dialing a number.

"[Yeah hello, this is bore farm extraordinary,]" Katrín answered on the other line.

"[Your farm boring? At least you got animals on yours,]" Erna retorted as she flung herself to the bed and got comfortable on her back. Her friend laughed over the phone.

"[Yeah, one horse, five sheep and couple of chickens. I'm not sure if the cat counts,]" she giggled.

"[Aw, Snuggles ate another plant?]" Erna smiled wide. Her friend's cat was a terror on the houseplants and Katrín referred often to him as 'damn beast' rather than animal.

"[Yes of course he did,]" Katrín grumbled.

"[Jeez, so what else is new over there?]" her friend asked while examining her nails and then the back of the hand.

"[You had to ask, you know what my mother has come up with now?]" Katrín heaved a dramatic sigh. "[She's obsessed with turtles.]"

"[Excuse me?]" Erna actually sat up when hearing that.

"[No joke, she bought two large books exclusive about turtles and other reptiles. When she is on the internet, she's looking up information on turtles. I only thank goodness that she doesn't talk about turtles all day long,]" the other teenager explained.

 _[Okay, that is weird,]_ Erna raised an eyebrow. "[Uh, you don't think she… no that's just silly.]"

"[What?]" Katrín asked but then realized. "[Oh. Good lord I hope not.]"

"[The very idea is plain weird.]" her friend rubbed the back of her neck and lay back down.

"[It topples the weirdo-scale,]" Katrín agreed.

"[My father would never… at least I don't think he would… well he did say he was in love once but…]" Erna shook her head. Then an eyebrow rose.

"[You want a turtle for a father?]" she asked innocently.

"[What? Oh sorry, I wasn't thinking about that, just the idea that my mother would possibly be with somebody else, it's just… ew,]" Katrín shuddered.

"[Yeah, I'm kind of used to have him alone, it would be weird if he was seeing someone,]" Erna agreed.

"[Then again it would offer possibilities. We would meet each other more often,]" the other girl said innocently.

"[Don't I see you enough in school?]" Erna snorted, both teenagers giggled.

"[Ah it's silly, she probably just wants to avoid stereotypes in case they meet again,]" she then decided.

"[Yeah probably,]" Katrín agreed.

"[So possible parental relationship aside, what else's new?]" Erna inquired.

 **End chapter 6**

* * *

 **A/N:** When I first posted this story I wrote an author note that said:

"Yes, many Icelandic Pizza places, do deliver to places that are over forty minutes drive away. This is very common in areas where the farms are far between and the nearest town is small, I have myself ordered from such a place."

However I must make an addendum that I've now lived away from Iceland for over ten years so I do not know if this practice is still in effect. But it was when I was younger and lived on Iceland.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 15/02 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 **Iceland, Reykjavik harbor**

Leonardo woke up when the ship's horn blew. He rose up and nudged Mikey awake. The younger turtle groaned and complained but in the end awoke and sat up rubbing his eyes.

"I think we have arrived," Leo said rubbing his arms slightly. "The air is at least much colder."

"How long were we on this boat anyway?" the orange clad turtle asked as he wrapped his blanket tightly around himself.

"Three or four days I think, I… ah I lost count when I got sick there for a while." Leonardo massaged the back of his neck, he was little embarrassed.

The blue masked ninja stood up and sneaked out of their hiding place. They were in the ship itself where it was warmer. Glancing out of the window, he noticed it was dark outside. He eyed at the wrist watch that was concealed by the wristband. His eyes opened wide in surprise, it was only 4 pm during the day. He had made sure to change his clock to GMT local time for Iceland.

"Well I can see we are approaching a dock, but it's dark outside and it's only 4 pm," Leo shook his surprise off. They had to get ready to depart without being noticed.

"You think Casey is waiting for us at the dock?" Mikey asked as he reluctantly packed his blanket in the backpack.

"No, because we weren't sure when the ship would arrive, he's waiting for us at a hotel," Leonardo answered and looked at Mike. "Don't worry, I have a map of the city and know where it is."

"So how do we get to that hotel?" the younger turtle asked.

"Well, probably by the rooftops like we are used too. According to April, the sewer system is not big enough for two giant turtles," Leonardo told him.

They silently sneaked out and made sure to stay behind the large containers the ship was shipping. The two turtles found a spot where the city was in view but they were not.

"Um… those houses don't look particularly large," Mikey noted, although it was dark they could easily see that the city seriously lacked skyscrapers and large apartment complexes.

"Well there are few of large structures… um but they still look small compared to New York." Leo looked around. As far as he could see, there wouldn't be as much maneuverability on the roofs as he had hoped.

"Ok, no sewers and the rooftops don't look promising, what now?" The younger turtle glanced at the older one who sighed.

"It looks like we have to go around on the ground trusting the coats and hats. Luckily it's already dark or we would be in serious trouble," Leonardo stated. "Get your disguise ready, the ship is almost there."

 _I should have checked better the pictures of the city,_ the blue masked turtle scolded himself as he and his brother jumped off the ship and landed on the pier. They went so silently and quickly, aided by the darkness of the early Icelandic winter nightfall, that the personnel on the dock never even noticed them.

"Leo, there are serious lack of alleys here," Mikey whispered as they approached the first buildings from the dock. Leo frowned and nodded in agreement. It was obvious that they were really forced to walk among the populace and hope they would go unnoticed.

"Let's go, the sooner we get to the hotel and Casey, the better," the blue masked turtle whispered as they approached a large building that was the closest to the dock they had come from. _I feel exposed here._

* * *

Casey had to admit that he was worried. He had taken the opportunity while waiting for the guys to drive around this small city. The man had immediately noticed that the usual rooftop jumping and alley hiding the guys played back at home, would not work here.

His only comfort was that it got dark early in the country since it was winter and thus they could possibly escape by using their disguises.

He had requested a room with a large window that could be opened; of course he neglected to say that it was for his two giant turtle friends. He also requested that the window not faced the street, fortunately the hotel actually did form an alley with another building close by. His room was accessible from there.

Casey was now sitting in his bed watching one of the few channels available in the country. The hotel was a cheap one and because of that it didn't offer satellite channels. Fortunately the man had found an interesting enough movie and was very relieved to learn that the country did not dub movies.

 _Sensible enough to use subtitles,_ he thought when he had found something worth watching. He also found out that there were no commercial breaks.

On the window he had left the sign Leo had given him to show this was his room. It was simple enough and bound to go unnoticed. It was simply an old mask, hung up like it was being dried. Casey also had the window open enough so that a grappling hook could be tossed inside.

The man was so sunken into the movie he was watching that he didn't even notice the hook. It came in without even touching the frame and grabbed silently the ledge.

"How can you watch that crap?"

Casey jumped off the bed and stared shocked at the two turtles suddenly inside the room. One hand was on the startled man's chest who tried to regain some composure before addressing the orange clad one.

"Guys, you know I hate it when ya do that." The man finally found his voice. Leo was removing his coat and hat but Mikey stared at the TV critically.

"Sorry, but we couldn't exactly just announce our presence until we were already inside," the blue masked one said with a slight smirk and closed the window and removed the old mask from it. He then drew the curtains over.

"Well I'm glad you guys are here. I was a bit worried how you could get around, I already scouted the city and it didn't look promising for guys who can't exactly be visible," Casey said while he got seated in the bed again.

"Yeah, we had to walk. All the way from the docks," Mikey said rubbing his arms. He refused to remove the coat, he was still cold.

"Luckily it was dark or we might never have gotten here," Leo muttered and sat on a chair.

"And there were so few people walking around," the orange masked ninja added as he got seated as well.

"If I didn't know better I would have thought it was a ghost town. New York is crawling with people on the street at this time of the day; we met maybe two or three?" Leo looked at his brother for confirmation.

"Four," Mikey corrected.

"Maybe Don can explain that part for us, if he will be in an agreeable mood to explain anything." Leonardo then turned to Casey who had begun watching his movie again. "So what's the car status?"

"I rented a small van for two weeks. I can extend the rent if necessary," the man answered. "Oh and I mentioned to them down in the lobby that I would be traveling with in the country and showed them were I might go. They warned me to watch the weather reports, we have to drive over a hill that can easily get blocked during winter if there is heavy snowfall."

"Well, how is the weather for tomorrow. We leave the first thing in the morning," Leo said. Casey stood up from the bed and stretched his arms.

"I think I'll go downstairs and ask, my Icelandic is a little rusty." The man smirked and walked out of the room.

"What are you doing Mikey?" Leo noticed that his brother was staring attentively at the TV but occasionally glanced at the clock.

"Timing when the commercial breaks start," the younger turtle stated. "There are already fifteen minutes finished of the movie and no break."

After twenty minutes Michelangelo learned the same thing and Casey regarding the commercials. The turtle was slightly impressed by that. By that time the man returned to the room.

"Well they told me that going tomorrow was the most sensible option, they are foreseeing a snowstorm in two or three days over the pass we have to go through. The guy downstairs even contacted a hotel that's in the town we are heading to and got me a room," Casey explained to them. "So they are expecting us, well me, tomorrow."

"Good, of course you might not need the room if we find Don right away. But let's not take any chances," Leo nodded, so far everything was going as planned. The easy part was almost over; the hard part was yet to come.

"So you guys have any idea what you are going to do when you meet him again?" Casey asked as he sat down on the bed. Leonardo bit his lips as he pondered the question. It was a very valid one, what did you say to your brother who had been missing for 13 years.

"I-I don't know," he finally admitted. "We'll just have arrive and see."

* * *

"[Yes hello?]" Donatello picked up the phone, an eye ridge rose in slight surprise. "[Oh Halldóra, hello there."]

Erna perked her ears when she heard her friend's mother's name. She was sitting in the couch and was reading. Her father had been watching the TV when the phone suddenly rang.

"[No, no you are not disturbing us. I was just watching the news, yeah. Yeah I heard the storm warning, they are expecting a black out yes,]" Don said in the phone nodding.

 _[Damn you Katrín for planting ideas into my head,]_ Erna thought when she heard her father talk about the weather with a woman he hadn't even known two weeks ago.

"[No I tolerate cold very well, otherwise I wouldn't have lived in this country for so long,]" Donatello told her with a shrug. "[Ah yes, the cold blooded thing. Heh, wish I had a dime every time I hear about that one.]"

"[Christmas plans? Well, Erna and I hardly know anybody here. Well Jónína and Björn will come over like they have done since we first moved here. Erna and I are kind of their adopted children in a sense,]" Don said with a chuckle. Then there was a long silence while he listened to what Halldóra had to say.

"[Well, if you are sure. You don't have anyone? No ok, well I don't see any problems with that first it's only you two and both of you already know. All right we'll talk later this week to plan the food.]" the turtle hung up shortly later after saying goodbye. He then walked back to his seat and proceeded to continue watching the TV.

"[Well?]" Erna asked once it was evident that her father was not going to replay the phone call.

"[Hm? What?]" he glanced her way.

"[What did Halldóra want?]" his daughter inquired.

"[Oh that, you never told me she and Katrín didn't have any other family,]" Don mentioned.

"[Well you never ask much about my friends. But that is true, it's only Katrín and her mother, all other family are either gone or are snubbing them.]" Erna nodded.

"[Well, Halldóra figured that we two would be also pretty lonely during Christmas, so she suggested we all had a Christmas Dinner together,]" Donatello explained.

"[Yeah, aside from Jónína and Björn, we hardly know anybody else,]" Elsa said carefully, eyeing her father warily. Don didn't pick up the implication hidden in her words; he had focused again on the television.

"[That's one nasty storm heading our way,]" the turtle muttered, the weatherman was explaining a snowstorm that was expected.

"[Hope it doesn't snow me in on Monday, I have a test to go to,]" Erna said.

"[How many have you left before Christmas?]" her father asked.

"[Three, then I'm off the hook.]" The girl smiled wickedly. Donatello nodded and stood up since the news and the weather was done on the television.

"[Don't turn it off, there is a movie I want to see after half an hour,]" Erna looked up from her book, Don threw the remote to her and the teenager caught it.

"[I'll be in the study,]" he said and walked out of the living room. His daughter in the meantime got more comfortable in the couch and continued reading the book, waiting for the talk show that was always after the news on Fridays to finish.

But a word from the show caught her attention. She looked up and saw that the host was talking with two elderly looking men. They were talking about stowaways in ships.

"[It can be pretty serious, the cargo hold is usually open because the containers are stacked so high they go out of them. Meaning sometimes you find these people frozen to death there, or they try hiding in the engine room and get crushed there.]" One of the men was explaining to the host.

"[Nobody tries to hide in the ship itself?]" the host, a woman, asked curiously.

"[Some do, but that is the biggest risk for them, they risk meeting the crew then and the crew is obligated to detain stowaways,]" the other guy said.

"[You know, now that you mention that, I remember a story from about 13 years ago. The crew on the old Skógarfoss was sure they had a stowaway on their ship but could never find him. Yet food was disappearing out of the kitchen and they did find a blanket in the cargo hold, as well as a fedora hat,]" the previous guy said, the text indicated was named Kristinn.

Erna gasped, they weren't talking about what she thought they were talking about were they? Her father had told her he came to the country 13 years ago, on a ship he hid in.

"[That's interesting, so he was never found?]" the woman asked.

"[Well one crewmember claimed to have caught a glimpse off him, but he was brushed off. It was too unbelievable. He said it was some sort of a creature or something, with a turtle shell,]" Kristinn smirked. Erna couldn't help but chuckle as well but for different reasons, if they had only known.

"[Funny you should mention that story, Brúarfoss just returned from America today and my son has a friend that works onboard. He said he had found an old worn blanket in one of the unused cabins. They searched for a stowaway but found nothing,]" the other man said, he was introduced as Ingvar.

The girl froze. She glanced to the living room doorway but there was nobody there. Her father had not heard this. Few weeks ago she wouldn't have had a second thought about this, but now with what she knew.

 _[They are here,]_ she thought. _[Father was right, it was only a matter of time before they came.]_

* * *

"Alright guys wake up," Leo said clapping his hands to wake the other two up. The turtles slept on the floor, giving Casey the bed.

"But it's still dark outside," Mikey complained glancing out of the window.

"It won't get much lighter until later," Casey grunted as he rose up rubbing his face with the palm of his hands. "In fact, the daylight won't last for long, it will start get dark again around 3 pm."

"What time is it?" Michelangelo rose up wide awake when hearing the news.

"8 am, I let you sleep in," Leo said from this crouched position where he had been meditating.

"8 am and it's still dark, this country is weird," Mike grunted and slowly stood up. "So what's for breakfast?"

"Whatever Casey can buy us in a gas station or a convenient store, pack up we are leaving," Leonardo said rising up and threw the bed cover to Casey. "I still can't believe I forgot my blanket on the ship."

"Hey happens to the best of us." the man smirked catching the covers and threw them on the bed. The human then disappeared into the bathroom.

"How long have you been up?" Michelangelo asked while putting his things in the backpack.

"Two hours," Leo responded, he considered putting on his katana straps but decided wait with that. So his swords were still packed in the backpack with only the handles peeking out.

"I'm surprised you didn't wake us up earlier to start," the younger turtle said while tying on his orange mask. Leonardo gave him a half-smile.

"I was going to, but then I saw it was a bit dark and figured we could wait a bit for daylight. But after two hours waiting for the sun to come, I decided that we could wait no longer," the older ninja explained.

Casey finished in the bathroom and Mikey was next. The human meanwhile pulled out from under the bed a suitcase, in it were winter clothes that would fit the two turtles. Leo began dressing up and was relieved to learn the clothes hid well his non-human features. He could probably walk out the front door without a hitch.

Mike got dressed as well when he returned from the bathroom and the two turtles now looked like two short heavily clothed men.

Casey grabbed the suitcase and the two ninjas picked up their backpacks. They then left the hotel. The man was asked about his two friends when he checked out.

"Oh they came here last night. We had a little party and they both had one too many so I just let them sleep it off. The room is clean, pretty much, no disaster," Casey fumbled out an excuse. Leo had his fingers crossed but the lobbyist was apparently used to stranger things. The three escaped without further questioning.

"Mikey you can ride shotgun if you want," Leo offered before his younger brother could even think of shouting it out. Casey opened the van and the turtles climbed in.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," the human shouted as he started the car and drove off.

"Ok before we leave town, let's buy something to eat, there should be a gas station on the way out of the city our way," Leo had pulled out a map and was studying it.

They found the gas station and took a moment to consider their road while eating breakfast. Casey had gathered instructions from the hotel how to get out of the city and to this particular town and was Leo matching them with the map.

"This should be all fine and dandy, so we need to take this road here a short distance from this gas station and turn right. From that point on, it's pretty much a straight road. Hm easier than I would have guessed," the blue clad turtle said. He drank from his tea paper cup and looked at his traveling companions.

"The road system looks very simple. Just follow the red road on the map," he told them showing the two a map of the country. "And you pretty much drive to every major settlement this country has."

"It concentrates heavily on the coast line," Mikey noted and used one finger to travel a bit on the mini road on the map.

"It encircles the whole main body of the island, it's called the main road or the ring road." Leo put the map aside and picked up again the city map. "So, when you have finished eating Casey, let's go."

The human nodded and started the car and drove out of the parking space in front of the station. They found both the road and the turn without a hitch; it was well marked with the town's name and how much distance it was in kilometers.

"And even if we reach the town, it will be a whole another matter finding the farm," Leo muttered as he glanced at the country map. They had encircled the area of possible locations with a black marker, and it covered a lot of ground.

"I hope our welcome won't be as cold as the weather," he heard Mikey mutter, the younger turtle was glancing out of the side window. It was still dark outside but it was beginning to light up.

 _Cold or warm, if they at the hotel were right about the weather we will have no choice but to stay at Don's,_ the blue masked turtle thought. _Then again that was the original plan, but without the snow storm preventing us from leaving._

* * *

Erna shook her head and shuddered. There had been an early weather warning on the television, her area would be hit with the storm most likely tonight. They did not know for how long the storm would go, but it was expected to clear up hopefully Monday morning. And today was Saturday.

The girl returned to the book, her father had gone to the barn trying once again to fix the tractor. He would not give up on it and Erna doubted he ever would. She knew that when the turtle had decided something, it was hard to convince him otherwise.

 _[If my uncles really have come, I hope they had sense to stay in the capital until the weather clears,]_ she thought while turning a page. The teenager had yet to mention the talk show yesterday to her father. She kind of hoped it had just been a major coincidence.

After reading for few minutes she glanced at the clock. It was 5 pm, her father had told her to just heat the leftovers from yesterday for dinner. Erna wondered if she should make a stew out of them.

The girl stood up and placed the book on the table before exiting the living room. She went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Erna rescued a white plastic container from it and opened the box. The leftovers did look promising for a stew, and it would make more of a meal since she could add some mincemeat with it.

She gathered the necessary utensils for the meal and began preparation. She had just beginning preparing the stew sauce when a light caught the corner of her eye. The girl glanced out the kitchen window and saw headlights approaching the house.

 _[Who is coming at this hour with a storm on its way,]_ she mused and walked to the window. It was too dark for her to see the car properly but there was no doubt that it headed towards their house.

 _[Maybe it's Björn, checking on us before the storms comes in.]_ Erna went back to the stove and removed the pot from it; she walked out of the kitchen and to the front door.

 _[No, it's not Björn,]_ the girl thought once she opened the door. She could now see the outline of the vehicle. Erna turned on the light that was on the house wall and would illuminate the driveway.

 _[Oh no.]_ Her eyes opened wide in shock.

* * *

"Bloody no good. Get off you damn nut," Don growled as he wrestled with a very stubborn nut under the tractor.

"Damn," he threw the wrench to the floor in frustration and glared at the object. He picked up a flashlight and aimed it more properly at the nut. The turtle growled when he realized that it was pretty much rusted stuck.

"Should have noticed that earlier," he shook his head and grabbed for the wrench, but it had slid away and out of reach. Don would have to slide from under the vehicle.

"I need to use the welding torch anyway, I have to replace this whole rod here," he patted the rusty metal before he began wiggling himself from out under the tractor.

He stood up and walked to the workbench. Don picked up the welding torch and was about to turn around when he decided to do this later. When he had the replacement parts and could just put them in right away.

Donatello instead grabbed some screwdrivers and intended to work a bit on the engine; he also grabbed additional tools for the job. He gave the tractor a glare, Björn had given it to him and the turtle was determined to get it going. According to the old man, it hadn't been running for over ten years. Don felt it was a fitting challenge.

He walked to the vehicle and opened the hood. He liked old tractor engines; they were usually not in chaos like so many modern cars. The turtle didn't need to dismantle it much to reach certain parts, while many new car models, pretty much forced one to rip the engine apart just to get a new headlight in.

Whistling Don began working, he had been at it for few minutes when hearing the barn door open. The turtle glanced at his watch and frowned, it was only around 5:30 pm.

"[Dinner can't be ready already is it, Erna?]" he asked thinking it was his daughter. Donatello didn't even bother raising his head from his work.

"I have no idea what you just said, Donatello," a familiar voice addressed him. Don slowly stopped working as his brain registered who the owner of the voice was.

He rose up and for a moment just stared forward, finally the turtle dared himself to turn to the origin of the voice. His jaw dropped slightly and his eyes almost enlarged in surprise.

In front of him wearing winter clothes, was his oldest brother Leonardo. The blue masked turtle stood by the barn door and stared at his long lost brother. But he didn't dare to come closer just yet.

"Weird to see you working, without your mask," Leo commented, his voice and face neutral.

 **End chapter 7**

* * *

 **A/N:** When I first wrote this story I pretty much stated that the turtles usual rooftop jumping would be impossible in Reykjavik with how the city is laid out and lack of seriously tall buildings. However up on later reflections I realize I was wrong about that, Mike and Leo could have gotten away with jumping on rooftops in down town Reykjavik to get to Casey's hotel.

I blame my lack of familiarity with Reykjavik on this. Yes believe it or not, I'm not that familiar with Reykjavik. I know marginally my way around it for some part, but the thing is, I've never lived in Reykjavik, the first eleven years of my life I lived in a small town near the city but then I moved north in Iceland and lived there until I moved to Norway in 2003. I've only stayed in Rekjavik for brief periods, never long enough to really get familiar with the city. I'm one of the Icelanders who think Reykjavik is really overrated and is taking all the attention from the rest of us (yes these kind of Icelanders exist, you'll find most of them outside the greater Reykjavik area.) I'm not a city boy, I'm a small town boy who scoffs at those fancy pancy city slickers from Reykjavik :-D


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 18/02 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

"So how did you find the farm?" Erna asked while stirring the stew in the pot.

"We came to the town your school is in," Mikey explained. He and Casey sat at the kitchen table and were they and the girl waiting for anything to happen from the barn.

"Leo figured we could try and ask if anybody knew where you farm was, so we sent Casey into a small shop we found. The clerk knew apparently where the farm was, she at least gave Casey instructions on where to go and well… here we are," the orange clad turtle finished. Erna looked at them thoughtful; she hid her anxiety very well.

"Was it small brown wood building? With flowerpots in front?" she asked. Both Casey and Mikey nodded.

"Then it's no wonder, owner is…" the girl stopped and shook her head when her English skills rebelled. "The daughter of the owner is my classmate."

"Yeah, it was a girl your age who was at the counter," Casey said, he glanced at the paper on the table but since it was in Icelandic he didn't pick it up. "So, you are Donny's daughter."

"I think that's one is obvious dude," Mikey said nudging the human with an elbow.

"Yeah, I'm his daughter. He adopted me when I was 3," Erna said with a shrug while she checked the potato pot. Since they were apparently having dinner guests she decided to have potatoes with the stew.

"Yeah didn't you say he found you or something?" the orange glad turtle asked. The teenager nodded.

"He found me where I was… ah, don't remember English word…scave," Erna grunted in frustration. "Looking for food."

"Ah scavenging," Mikey offered with a smirk. His niece shot him grateful look.

"At least he says it looked like I was. I was in dirty clothes and looked to have been out for days," the girl continued.

"But how did he know you were three years old?" Casey wondered.

"Oh I could speak somewhat and my age was one of the things I knew. He tell me that I tried telling him about my parents or so he figured. But he couldn't understand me, but he guessed it later because when he learn Icelandic he remembered my words," Erna explained. "He then says he tried leaving me at a hospital or some form of child service. But he admitted that in the end he couldn't, I had caught his heart and he didn't want to leave me."

"Aw, Donny has always did have a big heart," Mikey chuckled and so did Erna, Casey grinned.

"I just hope he remembers it with Leo," the orange turtle then muttered, reminding everybody why they were waiting in the kitchen.

"Father has feared this moment… he knew you would come because you met me and I confirmed he was alive," Erna said quietly. "But I guess… we didn't expect it so soon."

"Well the phone call helped," Mikey admitted feeling a bit guilty for some reason.

* * *

"So… you have finally come," Don said after recovering from most of the shock. His facial features turned neutral, Leo simply nodded.

"Well," Donatello raised his hands. "After what are you waiting for? Aren't you going to shout at me? Maybe beat me up?"

"Why should I do that?" Leonardo asked casually not betraying yet his feelings and remained expressionless.

"For abandoning you guys," his brother snapped and threw the screw driver he held to the floor. "For leaving without further notice, disappear and not contacting any of you, make you think I was dead. For failing you all."

"Fail?" the blue masked turtle raised an eye ridge. Donatello was seething, his hand shook badly.

"Failing!" he shouted. "I failed to cure SPLINTER!"

"Don…" Leo halted when he noticed that his brother wasn't finished.

"Few hours… I was FEW HOURS TO LATE!" Donatello screamed. "I found the cure when he was already DEAD!"

"Don you couldn't…" again the older turtle stopped when his brother threw this time the flashlight. It made contact with a wall and shattered.

"I could have saved him!" he cried. "But I was too LATE!"

Donatello sunk to the floor, breathing heavily, staring almost madly at wall he faced. Leonardo waited; his brother closed his eyes and had one hand on his forehead.

"I still… I still hear his painful groans… he tried to hide it… he was always so strong. But he couldn't hide them when he was sleeping. And the dry coughing…" Don was whispering now. "And… then I finally find it… the cure… but then he's dead."

"Don, don't you remember what he told you. Before he died?" Leo asked. But his brother didn't answer; he sat with his carapace up against the tractor tire.

"So I ask again, aren't you going to shout at me for abandoning you?" he asked not opening his eyes.

"And I ask again, why should I do that? What good will it do?" Leo regarded his brother carefully. "Will it bring back those 13 years you have been gone? No it won't, so I see no point in doing it."

Donatello's expression became sad and the turtle sniffled. He still didn't look into Leonardo's direction. His eyes were now squeezed shut, but it didn't prevent the tears that now flooded down.

Leonardo walked to his sobbing brother and crouched down beside him. The turtle removed the mittens he wore and placed one hand gently on Don's shoulder.

"I-I've… missed you guys…guys so much," he cried. "B-but… I've…I've always been… so afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Leo asked.

"R-rejection… I-I… I have… I thought… always believed…" Don tried to stifle his sobs but more just kept coming. "I felt you guys hated me!"

"What!?" Leo's jaw dropped, now first he was shocked. "D-Don… why would you think that?"

"I was depressed, felt like a failure, I had failed everybody," the crying turtle whispered between the sobs.

"You didn't fail anybody; you tried your best Don. We could never have expected you to succeed in everything. You tried at least and Splinter was proud that you tried but understood that you might not find a cure. Don't you remember what he told you before he died?" Leo asked again, gently squeezing his brother's shoulder.

"Do not fret Donatello, my son. You may not have found a cure but at least we know you tried. You have not failed me or your brothers, you have succeeded in keeping your vigilant and you like me fought to the very last moment. I will die with the knowledge that you did your best and that is all I can ask of you," Donatello answered almost like he was in a trance. For a moment he opened his eyes, staring forward before squeezing them shut again.

"What happened Don? Why did you forget his words?" the blue masked ninja asked.

"I… couldn't handle it…" his brother said. The turtle finally opened his eyes again and turned his head to look at Leo. "I couldn't handle it Leo. If I hadn't found a cure… then maybe I could have… but the depression almost overwhelmed me, it only got worse when I discovered how to kill the virus. Few hours after he died."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Leonardo wondered. Donatello looked down, the guilt evident in his face.

"I hardly could…I hardly could look at you guys… without feeling guilty, feeling like a failure. My depression just got worse and I… I really believed you hated me," he whispered his eyes shutting again and the tears threatened to return.

Leonardo felt a pit form in his stomach, this was very serious. He still had no idea how his brother got that ridiculous notion that they had hated him. Leo had in fact tried everything to keep his brothers together after Splinter died. He had refused to succumb to grief, and vowed to continue on his master's legacy. But it had all began to crumble once Donatello disappeared and Raphael's death had finalized it.

"And then… Raphael… attacked me," Don confessed. Leo's jaw dropped for the second time.

"H-he what?" he hardly found his voice.

"He was drunk… I know now… but back then, in my depression… it just didn't register. He said I was worthless, that you guys would be better off without me… he punched me in the beak and stalked off..." his brother continued.

 _So that's what Raphael was talking about and said he didn't mean,_ Leo sighed.

"Don, why didn't you come to me? Why didn't you speak?" he asked then. Don looked at him again, almost looking insulted.

"Leo… I was fucking depressed," he snapped shrugging his brother's hand off the shoulder. Leonardo raised an eye ridge in surprise, especially at the use of profanity.

"Depression can run deep; it isn't something you just shrug off. I was feeling guilty, thought I was a failure." Don rose up and stepped away from his brother and began pacing around.

"And when hearing those hateful words Raph shouted at me, it hit a nerve because I already felt you all resented me. He unintentionally, I know now, fueled my belief," he ranted waving his arms around in frustration. He stopped his pacing and glared at Leo who had risen as well.

"Leo, I was in no state of mind to turn to somebody because back then I thought I had nobody to turn too," he growled.

"Alright then, why? Why did you think that we resented and hated you?" Leonardo asked keeping his growing annoyance at bay. He knew it wouldn't help the rising tension.

But Donatello didn't answer; he just stared at his brother with a frown. Then much to the blue masked turtle's surprise he muttered something in Icelandic and began walking towards the barn door.

"Donatello," Leo frowned and followed him. "Donatello, are you going to answer me?"

"I'm hungry," Don said opening the door and stepped out. The turtle raised his hand to shield his face at the incoming snowflakes and the wind. _Damn the storm is coming._

"Donatello!" Leo was still following him.

"We better get inside, there is a snowstorm coming and they aren't expecting it to die down until Monday or Tuesday," his brother simply said and began walking to the house.

 _Dammit Don,_ Leonardo shook his head and followed the other turtle to the house. _We are not through yet, you will talk._

* * *

Erna had finished the cooking and Mikey helped her put the plates and glasses on the table. She brought the pot of stew to the table and then used a bowl for the potatoes. The teenager filled a large container of water from the faucet; Mikey found a cartoon of juice in the fridge and brought it out.

"So the tab water is safe here?" Casey asked glaring at the water now on the table.

"Yep, the tab water is safe. You are hard pressed to find water bottles in stores here because the water is free from the sink anyway," Erna shrugged smiling.

The front door opened and slammed few seconds later, Mikey, who was just about to sit down, halted on his descend. Erna made a silent prayer that everything had gone fine, but when her father appeared in the kitchen doorway, she knew it hadn't.

Mike stood up straight when he saw Donatello arrive. He either didn't notice the grim face on his brother or didn't care. The orange clad turtle jumped away from the table and grabbed his long lost brother in a hug.

"Oh Donny it's so good to see you again," he said. Don kept his hands at the sides and stared unsure at his younger brother. The turtle glanced at his daughter, when seeing the pleading look on her he sighed and relented.

"Yeah good to see you too Mikey," he embraced his brother who still held tight.

"Where is Leo?" the orange masked one asked as they parted. Don simply pointed behind himself with a thumb and walked to the table where he spotted Casey.

"Yo Donny, long time not see," Casey greeted him with a smirk. "Really long time no see."

"Yeah sure, why not," Don grunted dryly and sat down at the table. Leo came walking, he had resumed a neutral face again but the others had the feeling things hadn't gone as planned.

"Well let's eat," Erna said and gestured the two still standing turtles to sit down.

The dinner was eaten in silence, nobody really dared to spark up a conversation. Leo did compliment Erna though on her cooking, Mikey and Casey nodded in agreement. The girl blushed and muttered something about this just being leftovers.

When everybody had finished, they could hear the wind getting stronger outside. Don glanced out of the window while he brought his plate to the sink. He looked at his newly arrived guests.

"Do you have luggage in the car?" he asked, straining to keep his voice neutral.

"Yes," Leo answered.

"Then we better bring it in before the weather gets worse," Donatello said and walked towards the doorway.

"So there is going to be a storm?" Mikey asked. He had kind of hoped the weather reports were wrong.

"Yes, our area is being hit by it already and it will only get worse. They don't expect it to clear up until after the weekend and they even expect a blackout," Don explained and left the kitchen. Leo stood up and so did Casey.

"Mikey, you help Erna here, Casey and I will bring in the luggage," he told his orange clad brother before following the other one out along with the human man.

"I'll wash, you dry since you know where the plates go," Mike said as he and Erna began taking the rest of the plates and glasses to the sink.

"Just be careful with the hot water, it can get very hot," the girl warned him.

"So how bad will this storm be?" the turtle asked when they began the washing. Erna had to ponder a moment to find the right words.

"Ah, since they expect blackout then it could be very bad. We could expect to be snowed in," the teenager explained.

"What a time to get stuck in a snow storm eh?" Mikey tried to joke, his niece managed to produce a smile although weak.

"Sorry we dropped in like this unannounced," he then apologized. "But Leo got even more determined to come after the phone call."

"I can understand, don't apologize. Father knew you would come, but I guess he was unprepared for it to be so soon," Erna said and dried the last plate with the cloth and put it away. Mikey turned off the water and got the cloth to dry his hands.

They heard the door open and the howl of the wind could be heard more clearly. Then it was quickly slammed shut. There was some rustling as winter clothes were being removed.

"Are you booked in the hotel in town?" Erna heard her father ask.

"Yeah I got one room there, I haven't checked in yet though," Casey answered.

"Then you better call them and tell them you aren't coming. You will never make it to the town and the road won't probably be cleared until after the storm is over," Donatello advised as he walked past the kitchen holding Mikey's backpack. "The phone is in the living room, here."

"Uh yeah," Casey went past holding two suitcases. Leonardo walked into the kitchen with his own backpack slung over his shoulder.

"I apologize that we come like this," he began to apologize but Erna raised her hand to stop him.

"No that's ok, you don't have to apologize," she assured him with a smile. "Like I told Uncle Michelangelo, we were expecting this to happen. But probably not so soon."

"Hey no 'Uncle Michelangelo' with me," Mikey said with a grin and nudged his niece. "It's either Mike or Mikey, nothing else."

"We have one guest room with one bed, we need to get mattresses from the attic," Donatello came walking into the kitchen.

"Casey can have the bed, Mikey and I can sleep in the living room or something," Leo offered. It didn't go past either the orange masked turtle or the girl that the blue masked turtle was straining to be civil and so was Don.

"Erna, go to the basement and bring out the extra duvets we have in the closet there," Donatello told his daughter who nodded.

"I'll help," Leo said and followed his niece out of the kitchen. He left the backpack by the door.

"I can help with the mattresses," Mikey offered, Don just nodded and gestured his brother to follow. They went into the hallway and to the door furthest in it. When opened it revealed stairs leading up.

"So… did you and Leo talk before you came in?" the orange clad turtle asked carefully as he and his brother ascended to the attic.

"Somewhat," Don muttered and flipped up the switch that turned on the light. He walked to a plastic wraps that covered what looked like three mattresses.

"Don… do you hate us?" Mike whispered while helping his brother to remove the wraps.

"What makes you think that?" Donatello asked without looking up. He began lifting one mattress.

"Well… I don't know…" the other turtle shrugged.

"No, I don't hate you," his brother said while carrying a mattress to the stairs. "Or Leo."

"Then why did you leave?" Mikey asked as he picked up another mattress and carried it to Don who sighed.

"It's complicated Mike," he whispered and began descending the stairs.

"We used to be buddies," the orange clad turtle said softly. "We used to do stuff together. Even if I didn't always understand your techie-speak, you were always there for me."

"And you were always there for me," Donatello whispered, he had stopped in the middle of the stairway. Tears were forming in his eyes. But the turtle stubbornly held them back and continued down.

Michelangelo sighed and suppressed his own tears before going down with the mattress he was holding.

* * *

' _Gosh, it's kinda like 'Moonlighting', isn't it?' Don chuckled once Casey and April had gone their separate ways slamming doors as they went. Mikey's only answer was hum and a nod as he continued to take care of his brother's leg._

' _Hey you alright bro?' Donatello noticed the lack of real answer from his younger brother._

' _Fine,' Mikey muttered._

' _No you're not,' the purple clad turtle saw right through this best friend. 'I know you Mikey, that's not you being 'Fine'.'_

' _I'm worried about Raph,' the younger ninja muttered. 'His breathing is so… strange.'_

' _Yeah it's shallow, but it got better once he was laid in the bathtub. We can only wait.' Don put one hand on his brother's shoulder. 'He'll be fine, he's too stubborn.'_

' _What if he doesn't wake up… what if he dies?' Mikey whispered. 'He'll be gone… like Master Splinter.'_

' _Mikey,' Don said softly and put his injured leg down. 'We will find Master Splinter. Raph will wake up and we will find our father.'_

' _I'm scared Donny,' Mikey cried and wrapped his arms around Don's neck. The purple clad turtle just patted his sobbing younger brother on the carapace._

' _Its ok Mikey, its ok to be scared. I'm scared too, but we are here for each other and always will be. While we have each other we can go through anything,' the purple masked ninja said soothingly._

* * *

' _We are here for each other and always will be', why did you forget that Donny?_ Mikey thought while he followed his brother to the living room.

In the living room they put the mattresses up against the inner most wall while they wouldn't be used. Leo and Erna had brought up two plastic bags that contained duvets.

"We did bring blankets," Leo had said.

"Trust me, you don't use blankets when sleeping in this country," Erna told him. So the blue masked turtle didn't protest further.

"Is there no fireplace?" Mikey asked while looking around in the room, momentarily distracted from his previous thoughts.

"Fireplace? Oh, well no. They aren't exactly common any longer, especially in areas that get the natural hot spring water. We heat the whole house with that," the teenager explained.

"Aw," Mike pouted and brought up a pack of marshmallows from his backpack. "I was kind of hoping there was."

"You can use the flame from candles instead," Don suggested while he and Leo moved the couch a bit to make more room on the floor.

"It's not the same, but oh well," the orange clad turtle sighed. Erna patted him on the shoulder and gestured him to follow.

"Come uncle, I'll show you where we store the candles," she said and the two left the living room.

"You have raised your daughter well," Leo noted when he and Donatello were once more alone. Both had sat down on each end of the couch.

"Thank you," the other turtle said simply.

"You know, you still haven't answered my question," the blue masked one reminded his brother.

Don didn't get a chance to respond, Erna and Mikey returned with box of candles. They put their possessions on the living room table; it still looked in bad shape despite having been fixed.

"So what happened to the table?" Mike wondered as he examined it and saw clearly where it had been glued together on parts.

"You don't want to know," Donatello said. Leo sighed and decided not to press on his brother while in the company of others. He especially didn't want Erna have to witness a possible argument between her father and uncle.

"I have finished putting my stuff away," Casey came now walking into the living room.

"Just in time Case, wanna join us roasting marshmallows over candle flame?" Mikey asked. He and Erna had already put up few candles and were now preparing marshmallows on forks from the kitchen.

"No fire place?" the man asked looking around and spotting no such thing. "So how do you keep this place warm during winter?"

"Hot water spring," Don answered and supplied the man with the same answer and his daughter had given Mike.

"Ah, might as well join," Casey then said and joined Mike and Erna at the table.

"What exactly happened to the table?" Leo asked in low enough voice so only Don could hear.

"Simple, I broke it," his brother answered giving his blue masked brother a glare. "And not long after that, I called."

 _Yeah, I figured,_ Leonardo shook his head. When he looked Don's way the other turtle had reached for the remote and turned on the television. There was another storm warning on.

"What's going on?" Leo asked, naturally not understanding a word said on the TV.

"Storm warning for those the storm hasn't hit yet," his brother answered. Like it was clarifying its presence, the wind howled even louder outside. Shortly after that all electric lights went out and so did the TV. It didn't get completely dark only because of the candles already lit at the table.

"Whoa, good thing we were doing this," Mikey chuckled as he gobbled up yet another marshmallow.

"And thanks to the storm, it is probably going to stay this way until Monday," Donatello sighed.

 **End chapter 8**

* * *

 **A/N:** The flashback scene is a bit of an insert for Movie 1. It's basically for the purpose of this story a 'what happened' after Donny's line in the Farmhouse.

I also realize that Casey might not be actually behaving like we all know and love him. But I figured after being married for so long to the movie version of April who in my opinion could probably tame wild horses with her voice alone, has changed him a bit.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 27/02 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

The blackness only lasted for five minutes. Suddenly the electric lights switch on again and the TV was live once more. Mikey, Casey and Leo looked up for a moment and then at Donatello.

"Don't tell me you have forgotten already whose house this is?" Donatello asked and couldn't help it but sport a smug smile.

"Of course I have a power generator that supplies the house with electricity. I rigged it so it would start on its own if the main power went out. The fuel in it should last long enough, at least so we can make better preparation if the main power line hasn't been fixed yet," he explained as he stood up from the couch.

 _That's the Donny I remember,_ Mikey thought grinning wide.

"Don't use any more candles, we will need them if the generator goes," Don told those at the table as he was walking towards the door. "I'm going to get flashlights as well and the primus."

"Ah, father, Björn has the primus remember," Erna reminded her father.

"Oh right, oh well the flashlights then," the turtle muttered and left the living room.

"I had honestly forgotten about the generator. We haven't had a blackout for so long, it's been awhile since we had a storm this bad," Erna said. Mikey turned in his seat to glance out the window, not only was it dark the whole glass was covered in snow outside.

"So Leo, anything interesting on the tube?" Casey asked; Leonardo was staring at the TV with a heavy frown.

"Um… I'll get back to you on that," the blue masked turtle said. "But I think it's the news."

"Yes that is correct, uncle." The teenager had turned to see the TV and recognized the settings of the Icelandic news set for the particular channel. "They are getting reports about people stuck in the weather, some didn't manage to get home before the storm hit."

"So how many channels do you have?" Mikey asked.

"We only have reception for the main two channels, the State channel and Channel 2. We need to subscribe for Channel 2, but once we do we also get a second channel that goes along with it called Vision. So in essence we have three channels," the girl explained.

"Only three channels? No cable or anything?" the orange clad turtle asked startled.

"Hasn't reached our way yet," the girl grunted. "We here in the country always get left a little bit behind in things."

"Think of it like back at April's farmhouse Mikey, before Don finally finished fixing everything up there," Leo shot in with a smirk.

Don returned to the living room holding two flashlights. He put them on the table and then looked at his daughter.

"Where did we put the cooling boxes?" he asked. Erna had to think for a moment before she grimaced when remembering.

"They are in the barn," she said.

"Oh well, too late now. We'll then just put things in a plastic bag and put it outside if we have to," Donatello said with a sigh, then glanced at the TV.

"Looks like things are turning nasty further east," he muttered and left the living room again. Erna knew he wouldn't be returning as she heard him open the door to his study.

"The marshmallows are finished," Mikey picked up the empty bag and shook it upside down like he hoped there was at least one left.

Leonardo gave up trying to understand what was going on in the television. After contemplating for a moment he decided that he was ready for round two. He just hoped the walls were soundproof.

He stood up and left the living room, when the blue masked turtle entered the hallway he noticed the door open that led to the study. He walked immediately towards it. The ninja saw Donatello sitting by a desk and looked to be writing.

"I believe," Leonardo said as he entered the room and closed the door as he did. "That we didn't quite finish back in the barn."

In the living room Mikey realized that Leo had gone to try and talk again with their brother. The turtle glanced at Erna who didn't seem to have noticed her other uncle leaving the living room.

"Um, Leo said that Don still practices. I take it you have a dojo then?" he asked casually.

"Yes, it's in the basement," Erna said with a nod.

"Mind showing me?" the orange clad turtle asked. His niece smiled and nodded. They both stood up and the teenager gestured him to follow.

"You coming Casey?" Mikey asked the man.

"Ah, yeah sure," he said. They all three left the living room and Erna led them to the basement.

* * *

"What is there more to talk about?" Don grunted without even looking up from his work.

"For one you never really answered my question." Leonardo leaned back with arms folded on the closed door. He got no response from his brother.

"Don… I lost a brother 13 years ago and 10 years ago I lost another one. I was hoping I could at least have one of them back, in one form or another," he said and once more there was no reaction from the writing turtle. Leo sighed and decided to simply continue talking since Don wasn't going to do it.

"We searched for a year, all over the country. We probably took parts of Canada and Mexico as well. We watched news reports and the papers for any news about giant turtle sighting or if a new species had been discovered. After a year with nothing… we…" The blue clad turtle sighed and looked down.

"It was easier to simply accept that you were gone, gone for good. Only Raphael refused to believe it, he kept going topside in hope to meet you out there. Mikey broke down; April took him to live on the farm for over six months to recover. He visited your marker every single day while there." Leonardo looked up to see any sign of just something from his brother, but Don just kept working.

"I tried my best to keep the three of us together once Mike returned from the farm. I kept the practices up on the same schedule and Splinter had. We still went regularly on patrol. However, that ended three years after you disappeared. Raphael sneaked out as he usually did in hopes to find you. Mikey and I followed him when we realized that he was gone but we were too late." Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing.

"We found Raph surrounded by a street gang he had attacked. There were too many of them for him alone. He had even stopped fighting when we came. Mikey and I managed to drive them off but it was too late… too late. Raph's plastron and carapace were cracked and he was all cut up on the arms and legs. He also had a bullet wound on the side. We tried to stop the bleeding but he didn't allow us. He died in my arms Don, begging you for forgiveness. Raph never told us what it was he was asking forgiveness for nor what it was he said, we only knew that something between you and him happened." The blue masked turtle noticed that Don had stopped writing but was still silent.

"That almost did it for Mikey. He was fragile already from your disappearance but once Raph died… he almost lost it. He got nervous breakdowns, panic attacks, he even sometimes just cried for no apparent reasons. I couldn't leave the lair for a second without him completely losing it. I would find him wound up in his bed after trashing it in a fit, crying and even screaming." Leo shook his head.

"This time I went with him to the farm and we spent two years there before Mikey was over his worst. He was still nervous and prone to panic attacks, but at least he could be left alone if necessary for a short period of time. But he never left the lair on his own after that. He either went with me or not at all. I stopped going topside unless necessary," he continued. There was still no response from this brother. Don had stopped moving all together, just sat and stared at his desk.

"We had truly accepted this finally when I happened to stumble up on your daughter. Mikey had somewhat returned to his old self again, he could be left alone when I had to go somewhere and he didn't want to go. So it was quite a shock to learn you had been alive this whole time. I almost went into denial until your daughter showed me pictures of you." Leonardo finally stood up straight and walked a step closer to his brother.

"When Mikey learned you were alive he improved a lot. He was suffering from flu when Erna came and it was like it vanished after he had learned about you and it had sunk in. He began joking again, he began cooking again, he even went topside alone at one point to catch some fresh air. I want to keep him that way, that's how he should be. He improved because like me he wants his brother back, a brother who he lost and was his best friend. Somebody he could go to in need. I can never replace the friendship that was between you two."

Leonardo stood in silence waiting and hoping for some kind of reaction from this brother. He hoped this had gone through. Don turned his head slightly, just so he could see Leo from the corner of his eye.

"Don… Donny, I don't know how you got the impression that we resented you or hated you but we never did. In fact we felt sorry for you, we knew you tried so hard and understood how devastating it had been for you," the blue masked turtle said. He held out his hand.

"Please Donny, I don't want to fight you. I don't want to argue with you about this. I just want my brother back."

But Donatello turned away, once more facing away from Leo. The older turtle sighed and lowered his hands. Sighing dejectedly he put one hand on the door knob preparing to open the door.

"Don… you are my brother, my family. No matter what happened," he whispered before leaving the room.

"I know," Donatello whispered when the door closed. He still stared at the journal book he had been writing in earlier.

 _Entry_

 _Their arrival just continues to remind me of my failure. The fact I failed them and my father. I continue to think now that if I had been faster I could have saved him._

He stared at his last entry while Leo's story continued to replay in his mind. He remembered the 'conversation' in the barn. Finally he lifted the paper, tore it out of his journal, crumbled it up and threw is to the wastebasket.

* * *

"Leo?" Mikey turned on his mattress so he faced Leo who lay on another one a bit further away. He could just make out where his brother was.

"Yeah?" the blue masked turtle responded. They had all gone early to bed. After Leo had tried again to talk with Don the rest of the evening had been spent in the living room watching TV.

Donatello had never returned to the living room. They had only heard it when he finally came out of his study and went straight to his bedroom. Erna had shortly later left as well and gone to talk with her father. Leonardo didn't know what had gone on between the two, but half an hour after that they heard the girl walk down the hallway and to her own room.

"I can't sleep," Mikey whispered. "There is so much noise in that wind."

"Yeah I know," Leo agreed. The storm still raged outside the house. The wind showed no indication of dying down.

"You think Don will accept us again?" the orange masked turtle asked.

"I… I don't know Mikey, I hope so," his brother responded.

"I tried to talk to him," Mike confessed. At that Leo turned his head to look in the other ninja's direction.

"I… he didn't talk. I don't think he wanted to," Mikey sighed. "I miss our game."

"The one where you repeat each other?" Leonardo asked and a smirk formed on his beak. He admitted that it had always been amusing when his younger brothers had played it.

"Yeah," Mike confirmed. "Leo, what happened to Don?"

"What makes you think I know?" the blue masked asked.

"Well, you did talk with him in the barn, and again later."

"It's a bit complicated, Mikey, more complicated than I realized. Don is hurting a lot and he seems to be afraid to face it. He blames himself for Master Splinter's death," Leonardo explained. Mike half rose up on the mattress.

"But that's not true," the orange turtle claimed.

"I know, but that's what Don believes. He thinks he should have been quicker. It is gnawing at him that he found a cure too late, it is something he is not coping very well with," Leo continued. "His depression was deeper than I thought."

"I think… now that I think about it. I think we put too much pressure on him back then, unintentionally. We just expected him to fix it, we…" Leonardo rose up as the realization hit him. Mikey heard him gasp.

"Mikey, I think I have it," he whispered. "We were so used to it that Don could just fix things that we just took him for granted. We just figured everything would be ok, Splinter would only be sick for couple of days while Don found a cure. Don knew that, he knew we expected him to fix this and when he didn't."

"It just tore him apart. We have always marveled over how good he was at fixing things, finding things out. We completely forgot an important fact; you don't get this far without trial and errors. Don earned his intelligence by his inquisitive nature, his desire to figure things out."

"It was alien to us, this habit of his to take things apart and reassemble them, constantly browsing through thick books or scouring the internet. When it came to use his knowledge, it always amazed us. We just didn't realize it that he didn't get this far by just sitting around doing nothing. He worked hard to get it and who knows how many mistakes he made when he was putting something together again for the first time. How many times he probably stumbled up on the wrong information. We didn't know because we didn't care, all we saw was our genius brother who could fix everything. Bottomless pit of knowledge and expert fix-it turtle," Leo continued and sighed.

"Mikey I think we accidentally thought of our own brother as nothing more than a tool at our disposal. How many times have we asked him to speak English when he is trying to tell us something? How many times have we just told him to fix something that broke? We just expected things of him, we took him for granted." The blue masked turtle sighed again and lay back down.

"Man…" Mikey muttered.

"And yet he doesn't hate us, he told me himself that he missed us. What he was afraid of was rejection, that we would reject him. It's no wonder he took this so hard, why his depression went so deep. He knew what was expected of him and in his mind he failed." Leonardo suddenly frowned and rose up from his mattress.

"Where are you going?" Mike asked and began to stand up as well.

"Just go to sleep Mikey, I have to… confirm something," Leo said and walked towards the living room door. On his way he grabbed his backpack.

Leonardo sneaked his way to the bathroom and locked it. He took a seat on the toilet and opened the backpack. Taking a deep breath he dug his hand into it and pulled out a black book with a single white rectangle shaped space on it. On it was a single name. 'Donatello'.

Leo felt horribly guilty for holding this book and had vowed not to open it. It was Don's diary from the lair. His brother had either forgotten it or for some reason or another left it behind before he ran away.

The original reason Leonardo had it was because he just simply wanted to give it back to his brother. Now with his recent brainstorming and sudden realization, Leo just had to know. He did a short silent prayer asking for forgiveness and vowing it was for a good cause before he opened it.

 _Ok, last page,_ the turtle thought; deciding he would not need to read the whole book, he was feeling bad enough doing this in the first place. Reading the date he confirmed his fear that it had indeed been written 13 years ago, few days after Splinter died.

Leonardo had barely red the entry when the book dropped from this grasp. Bowing his head the turtle covered his face with trembling hands. It was all it took, the tears crawled down and he couldn't control the sobs.

"Oh god Don… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" he cried as silently as he could.

The book lay open on the last page; it was filled with only one sentence.

 _The tool failed._

* * *

Erna was surprised the following morning to see Leo in the dojo. The turtle sat in one corner in lotus position and had no lights on.

"Good morning," he greeted her without even opening his eyes.

"Good morning, you are here early," Erna said as she turned on the lights. Her uncle opened his eyes and smirked.

"Earlier, I have been meditating for about two hours now," he said.

"Two hours?" the girl gulped, she had herself tried meditation. Her father occasionally did it as well, but that had been half an hour at most.

"I have had a lot to think about," Leonardo said and rose up. "I take it it's time for your practice?"

"Yes, I have to be in the dojo half an hour earlier than my father. I prepare myself and we begin when he comes," Erna explained and walked into the room after showing proper respect in the doorway.

"You don't mind if I watch do you?" Leonardo asked. His niece shook her head smiling. "In fact I intended to do few katas myself."

Erna just nodded and began a warm up exercise. Leo took a moment to watch her before warming up himself. He was much quicker than the girl and soon stood straight before drawing his katana out of the straps on the back. The turtle began a complicated kata.

The teenagers watched slack jawed, sure she had seen plenty of time when her father did his Bo katas but Leo looked almost like he was dancing with the swords. Shaking her awe off, the girl went to the rack to fetch her Jo staff and started on her regular exercises.

"You train with the Jo?" Leonardo asked after having observed his niece for a while. He was impressed as he recognized these as simple warm up moves.

"Yeah, Bo was just too long for me or something like that. And we really can't have other weapons here, your swords are the first real ones I have seen safe for pictures," Erna said as she finished her exercise. Soon her father would come and the real training would start.

"Well I can see you have a bokken, that's just as well. And a pair of nunchaku," Leonardo took a glance at the weapon rack. Erna nodded in agreement.

"But my father says it never replaces the real thing," she said.

"That is true; after we mastered our weapons we rarely used the fake training ones. It helped keeping us on the edge when we trained with the actual things," the turtle told her. He then glanced at his swords and then at his niece. "Want to spar?"

"Oh I would be honored," Erna smiled.

They took position, bowing before they started. The teenager learned quickly though that going against real steel was quite different than a wooden sword, on top of that her uncle was clearly a sword master.

"Good block but be quicker on the counter move." Leonardo couldn't resist giving some tips and instructions. His niece was good but as he was much older and more trained, he saw still the many beginner mistakes she still hadn't completely brushed off.

"Don't lean so much forward when you duck, you leave your back exposed," the turtle continued to instruct. "Remember, you don't have armor there."

They continued to spar and didn't notice that there was audience forming in the doorway. Donatello had naturally arrived to start his daughter's morning practice, as well as Mikey who was looking for Leo. Casey still slept.

"Don't lean!" Don said sharply with a frown after observing the sparring for a minute, but his instructions came too late. Erna used her Jo to block a strike from one katana and in doing so leaned to her left. Leonardo instantly put his other sword on her side.

"I'm afraid you're dead now," her uncle said with a smirk. "This move is not good against swords."

"I have told you before Erna, never lean to the sides unless you are prepared to block it." Donatello walked closer. His daughter turned to face him and bowed respectfully.

"Sorry sensei," she apologized.

"The Jo is too short, you might have gotten away with that with the Bo," Don explained to her. He then glanced at his blue masked brother. "Let me show you."

Erna handed him the short staff, Don did first a couple of warm up exercises before standing in front of Leonardo. The two turtles bowed and then took battle position.

The teenager had to step back a bit when they began. Her father, being much more experienced than her, moved at much more speed and ferocity then she did. Leonardo did not have it easy this time and now heavy concentration was on his face.

But previous night was also heavy on Leonardo's mind. He had momentarily been able to put it aside after heavy meditation and his sparring match with Erna. Now that he was facing his brother, with whom he hadn't practiced with for so long, last night came back to his mind.

Donatello also seemed to have something on his mind but said nothing either. They just continued, blocking or striking.

"See that, instead of leaning when I blocked I stepped out of range," Don told his daughter without missing a beat at one point.

"You have trained your daughter well Don," Leonardo told him. "Master Splinter would have been proud."

"Thanks," Donatello simply answered and blocked a katana strike from above and then tried a sweeping kick. Leo jumped to avoid it.

"Don," he said once landing. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" his brother grunted and swung the staff aiming for Leo's side. The turtle blocked it with a single katana and for a moment they held that pose, pushing at each other's weapon.

"We took you for granted." Leo slashed with the other sword but Don swiftly moved out of the way, spinning the Jo staff he then tried to use it like a bat. The blue masked turtle back flipped out of range.

"We expected too much of you. We put unwanted pressure on you." Leonardo decided to just simply spill it, but they didn't stop a moment in their match.

"We just thought you would be able to simply fix everything." He felt the frustration and guilt come all over him again.

"That should never have happened Don. We should have never…" Leonardo didn't watch it or didn't care. Don managed to disarm him and the blue masked turtle now stood with a point of a staff at his neck.

"You are not a tool Donatello. You were never a tool and we should never have made you think you were. We should never have expected that you could just stand up at any given time and just fix everything. You should never have had to carry the pressure and the burden on your own. You didn't fail Donatello," Leo whispered and closed his eyes trying to prevent the tears from coming.

"We did, your brothers. We failed you."

He slowly opened his eyes again; Don had removed the staff from his neck and stood now looking thoughtful. Leonardo felt a lump form in his throat; it was almost like he was looking into the past. His purple masked brother was in a full battle gear, his familiar thinking expression on the face and holding a staff, Jo maybe but still a staff.

"I don't want a tool back, Donatello. I want my brother," Leonardo said and held out his hands. The Jo staff fell down with a clattering sound as two brothers fell into each other's embrace. The floodgates were opened and they both let their emotions run free.

Erna smiled when seeing how her father had accepted her uncle's apology. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Mike standing now beside her. On impulse the girl wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, tears of joy crawling down. The orange masked turtle hugged her back but didn't take the eyes of his brothers.

"Should I say welcome to the family or you?" he asked after a moment with a grin. Erna chuckled at the joke.

"No," Leonardo heard them, he and Donatello parted. The blue masked turtle smiled wide. "Welcome back to the family."

 **End chapter 9**

* * *

 **A/N:** It is probably a bit out of character for Leo to be reading another's person diary, but given the situation, I felt it was acceptable this time. He only did go to he last page after all.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 22/03 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

Casey Jones yawned wide when he woke up and rose up slowly from the bed. He tiredly rubbed his head while leaving the guest room, his brow rose when hearing happy chatter coming from the kitchen. For a moment the man thought he was still sleeping and dreaming, but a pinch in the arm confirmed his conscious state. Yesterday there had been tension; smiles on the turtles were strained almost forceful. The brothers had forced themselves to be civil.

Now they sounded happy, or at the very least content. Casey walked to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway, again wondering if he was dreaming. By the stove was neither Mikey nor Leo, not even Erna. They were sitting at the kitchen table. It was Donatello who stood there making pancakes; he skillfully flipped them like nothing was easier.

"W-wait Don is cooking?" Casey couldn't resist, from the past they had always jabbed at the purple clad one for his lack in culinary skills. Although he could make a meal if needed, he wasn't the most famous turtle for it.

"Well, Erna is still alive so we have to believe that he learned," Mikey answered with a broad grin. Leo and the girl chuckled; Don just shook his head and put yet another pancake on a plate. Already a very high pile of them was on it.

"Somebody had to feed that greedy mouth for 13 years you know," Don responded and gestured grinning to his daughter who stuck her tongue out at him.

"Actually twelve and a half, we live with Jónína and Björn for few months," Erna reminded her father.

"'We lived,'" Don corrected her, his daughter blushed. "And yes, there was those five months when we lived there."

"Wait, who?" Leo asked frowning in confusion. Don turned off the stove and picked up the plate of pancakes and walked with it to them. Casey was already seated now and all other breakfast items were on the table.

"I'm afraid you don't get a house like this just by pure coincidence," Donatello told his blue clad brother as he was sitting down. "When I first came here, shortly after I found and pretty much adopted Erna, I accidentally exposed myself to an older man named Björn."

"He was in the city picking up some wood for his place. Erna was three years old then and playful as all kids are on her age. He found her when she was playing and there was no simple way for me to retrieve her. I had to walk into his view and demand her back. It took me a while, fortunately he understood and talked English, but I managed to convince him that I meant no harm and just wanted my daughter back. He then kind of offered me a place to stay in his farmhouse, it's only five minutes' drive away from this one," Donatello began his explanation.

"Jónína, who is Björn's wife was, much quicker to accept me; she figured I had to be some sort of a kind natured spirit who was looking after Erna. It's no matter how many times I told her I was a mutated turtle, she still thinks I was sent by a higher power to look after my daughter," Don restrained a chuckle from forming. Although he felt the notion silly, he still respected the old woman's beliefs.

"Anyway, Erna and I lived on Björn's farm for about five months. He was a bit more earth bound regarding me and employed me while I stayed with them. Björn also owned this place here, but he said he would be forced to sell it soon if nobody lived in it any longer. So he offered it to me and I took it. It's completely in my name now, I bought it from him," the turtle then finished.

"So they two know who you are?" Leo asked, his brother nodded.

"They keep my secret; in fact I wouldn't be able to do my job if they didn't act as middle people for me," Donatello said. "We can meet them once the storm has subsided, then you can judge them by yourself, but they are trustworthy."

Leonardo decided to let it slide for now and just nodded. He realized that it would have been silly to think Don acquired a house like this on his own. At least now the mystery how he had actually managed to raise Erna was pretty much solved. The turtle had to admit though that he couldn't wait to hear the full story.

The breakfast was eaten in much more easier atmosphere than yesterday's dinner had, but Leo knew they were far from done. Sure the wall had finally been ripped down this morning; they had finally faced the facts. But the real healing process was just beginning.

"So… what's the plan for today?" Casey had to ask, a casual glance out of the window had only confirmed that the storm had not died down.

"Well I guess it's whatever you can think of doing and is possible to do," Don said quietly.

"Don, I was thinking. After we have finished breakfast and cleaned everything up, that we could maybe continue the talk we never really finished," Leo suggested carefully. It was still a sensitive ground and he could only hope that Don wouldn't lock all up again. His brother stopped eating for a while and seemed to be contemplating his answer; the turtle then closed his eyes and nodded. He looked up again and smiled weakly.

"Yeah, we can talk in the study," he said and glanced at Mikey who sat beside him. "Mikey why don't you come too, I think its due time you are involved too."

"Ok," the orange clad ninja agreed.

"Erna has to study anyway for her tests," Don glanced at her daughter who smiled half sheepishly. "So that only leaves you Casey."

"Well if you don't mind I was thinking of calling April, tell her we are here," the man said. Leo noticed that his brother hesitated slightly, apparently had some sort of an inner struggle before he answered.

"Yeah sure, just be careful about the time difference, we are about five hours ahead of New York," Donatello finally said. Leo held back a sigh of relief, there had been no strain in his sibling's voice. Casey nodded and everybody finished off their breakfast.

Leonardo and Donatello did the dishes; Erna put everything else away before going to her room to study for her tests. Mikey lingered in the kitchen but Casey disappeared into the living room.

"I noticed that Erna only calls you father, not dad or daddy," Mike said from his seat at the table. Don looked at his brother while drying a plate and nodded.

"The Icelandic word for father was one of the first words that I learned in the language. So I always called myself father to her when she was growing up. It just stuck then and well, she has to be really upset and then I mean really, really upset to call me daddy," Donatello explained.

"In fact I think she has only called me that once, back when she was ten or eleven. She got lost about five miles from here, we had a very heavy fog and she couldn't find her way back. It took me two hours to locate her finally and well it took me another two hours to calm her down, the whole time she called me only daddy," he told them.

"You want me to help her hone up her sense of awareness of the surroundings?" Leo glanced at his brother as he washed the final plate. Don looked at him and shrugged.

"I guess you can try, I admit I might have slacked on some areas of her training," the turtle admitted. Leonardo smirked and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, she is already pretty good. I could just see that when she took care of that mugger and when I sparred with her. You have done a great job so far," he said removed his hand off his brother.

"So now that we are finished here," Don said as he dried the last fork and put it away. "Let's go to the study."

Michelangelo rose up from his chair and the three turtles walked out of the kitchen. As they walked past the living room they could head Casey talking, apparently he had called April already. They ignored it though and went into Donatello's study.

In there, Don sat down by his desk but turned his chair to face his brothers who had found other chairs to sit down on. For a while there was nothing but silence, nobody really knew how and where to start.

"Well, I guess I should ask when you discovered I was gone." Don mentioned with a shrug. Leo sighed and rubbed his hands together as he thought back.

"It was the same night and you left, we had been wondering what was going on. Raph had been in his room ever since he returned home drunk and you disappeared also into your room when you returned that day," he said.

* * *

 _Leonardo opened his eyes slowly when he heard loud ruckus. Glancing up he figured it had to come from Raph's room that was next to his. Then he heard a shout._

" _No! NO. I didn't. I DIDN'T!"_

 _It was Raph. Leo jumped out of his bed and ran out of his room. Just at that moment Raphael crashed out of his own subway car and raced towards Donatello's._

" _Donny! Donny I'm sorry!" the red clad turtle shouted as he forcefully opened the room and disappeared in. Leo shook his head, wondering what on earth was going on._

" _NO!"_

 _Leo halted, why was Raph still screaming? Surely he had woken Donatello up by now. The blue clad turtle hurried to Don's room and was joined by Mikey who had just woken up, rubbing his eyes tiredly._

 _When they stood in Don's doorway they saw Raph desperately ripping everything, blanket sheet and mattress off the bed like he was searching for something._

" _Where is he? WHERE IS HE?" the hot tempered turtle circled around. Leo realized that the effects of the alcohol hadn't worn off yet, Raph was basically still drunk._

" _Raph, calm down. Don is probably in his lab," Leo told him, but a glance towards the entrance to their brother's lab revealed no sound coming from there. And the light was turned off._

" _No," Raph spoke now in a soft voice; his two brothers looked back at him and saw he was holding a note. He had apparently stumbled up on it in his frantic search for his brother._

" _NO!" the red masked ninja screamed and threw the note away. Then he darted out of the room, nearly ramming his brothers down who just managed to get out of the way._

" _Raph!" Leo called after his brother who was heading out of the lair._

" _We gotta find him, we gotta stop him!" Raph shouted back as he ascended on full speed up the ladder. Leo and Mikey looked at each other, the blue clad one stepped inside the room and picked up the note. His eyes enlarged when seeing the single message on it._

' _Goodbye!'_

 _Without further words, or explanation to his confused brother, Leonardo raced out of the room and out of the lair to follow their brother. Mikey still confused and slightly frightened at the reactions of his brothers decided to simply follow._

* * *

"We went all around the city that night, searched at your favorite spots to pick up usable junk. We even went to April and Casey to see if you were there," Leonardo said and smiled weakly.

"But you had effectively disappeared. For a while we feared that Raph was gone missing too. He didn't return until the day after. He tried to conceal it, but we saw right through him. Raphael had spent a lot of that time crying somewhere, probably begging you to come back and asking you to forgive his actions against you. Although that is only a guess, we never got anything out of him. All he told us was that we had to find you."

"So," Mikey chimed in whispering. "Did you head straight for another country that night?"

Now it was Donatello's time to think, his brow sunk into heavy frown as he recalled that time. For a while he gritted his teeth at some of the more painful memories. First he began telling his brothers exactly what had happened between him and Raphael, just like he had told his daughter. Mikey gulped when hearing the hateful words that his red masked brother had spoken, Leo looked down shaking his head.

"I think I sat there in the tunnel, crying for at least an hour," Donatello said. "No… I don't really know. I lost track of time, well I lost track of everything. All I could think of was simply vanishing."

"If I had been in a clear thinking state, I would have realized already that Raph was drunk and still grieving. He definitely didn't mean or even know what he was really saying," he continued and looked sadly at his two brothers.

"But like I told Leo already, I was depressed, I had convinced myself that this was my entire fault, I had failed. I…I actually believed that you resented me and Raph's words spoken in a drunken rage just fueled that believe. So my only thought then was simply to leave." The turtle rubbed his forehead tiredly and shut his eyes tight. Tears threatened to come forth. Leonardo drew his chair closer and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright brother, speak at your own pace," he told him.

* * *

 _Donatello slipped silently down the ladder. He ignored Mikey's greeting from the couch and went straight for his own room. The turtle closed the door and locked it. Fighting back the tears the turtle sat down on his bed._

" _Was that Don?" he could hear Leo asking._

" _Yeah, he's still bummed. Didn't even say hello," Mikey responded._

" _Well it's probably hardest on him. I'll talk with him tomorrow," the blue masked ninja said._

 _The purple masked turtle sniffled and dried the tears that had managed to escape through off his face. His mind was constantly replaying what Raphael had said to him, he rubbed his still soar beak from the punch._

 _He waited and waited. After having already put few items in a backpack, the turtle now only waited for nightfall. He heard Leo retire to his room first. After an hour Mikey gave up on the television and went to bed as well. Donatello closed his eyes and stifled a sob as he stood up. Silently the ninja fetched his pack and slung it over his shoulder._

 _Donatello picked up a note and wrote a simple 'goodbye' on it, placing it on his desk. The turtle opened the door to his room and drawing a deep breath he stepped outside. The ninja slipped out of the lair unnoticed._

 _He wasn't sure were to go. The turtle headed at first for the rooftops and for a moment halted there while contemplating what to do next._

" _Can't go to April or Casey," he muttered while staring over the city. "I'll just be a liability on them as well."_

" _I'm sorry guys… I'm sorry I failed. I'll stop being a liability on you," Don whispered and sniffled. Fresh tears started to crawl down his cheek. "I'll go and you never have to rely on me again. I'll never fail you again."_

 _For a moment the turtle allowed the tears to flow freely but stifled his sobs._

" _Goodbye… I'm sorry," he muttered one final time before standing up and dried his tears. He started into the direction of the Manhattan harbor._

 _Don arrived there without much difficulty several minutes later, he looked at the docks and saw that there were several ships there but none seemed to preparing to leave. The ninja sneaked closer and continued alongside the harbor, trying to locate any boat that looked to be leaving._

 _Finally he saw a large black ship and the crew onboard looked busy. It was definitely a cargo ship. He couldn't read the name, it was foreign and he couldn't place flag either. It was blue, white and red, forming a cross._

 _Donatello glanced around and saw that at the moment there were very few people working around it, he could probably escape onboard if he was quick._

 _He took a deep breath and darted towards it. Nobody noticed the dark shape of the turtle as it jumped up on the many containers that were nearby and then onboard. Not a single human spotted the turtle that then disappeared into the cargo hold._

 _Don had barely made room for himself deep within the ship when he heard the horn blow. He looked up and gulped, there was no going back now. The turtle was off, probably most likely leaving the country._

 _The ninja opened his backpack and drew up a book, a journal that he hadn't started yet. Sighing he opened it and began scribbling down words on it._

' _I'm on a ship, heading who knows where. I don't know why I am doing this but I can't, I just can't. I hope they forgive me, but I just can't face it._ '

' _I'm just a liability anyway, a failed tool. Raphael was right, they shouldn't have to rely on me. They are better off without me.'_

 _Donatello closed his book and put it back in the backpack. He leaned back in his hiding place and cried himself to sleep._

* * *

The wind still howled outside and the snow continued to build up. It was zero visibility for miles around. Inside the snow covered farmhouse the three turtles now sat in silence, two of them feeling extremely guilty for not having noticed their brother's great pain and guilt.

"Man Donny… if we had only known," Mikey whispered and swallowed a forming lump in his throat. "Leo was right… it's not you who failed… it was us, we failed you as brothers."

"I think we are all to blame," Don muttered and glanced at his brothers. "I probably should have spoken up… I just… I was too scared I guess… and thought nobody would care anyway."

"Yes, we failed to hold together when we needed each other the most," Leo said sadly.

"Well… we are together now," Mike pointed out and eyed his brothers who both looked at him. Smirk then crawled on their beaks, Leonardo chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess we are," he agreed.

* * *

Erna turned a page and wrote down few notes. On her ears were headphones as she listened to music that played on her computer. Her current study was history, a subject she was very fond of.

But her thoughts sometimes wandered back to the events this morning, a smile crossed her mouth. She had hoped that her father would accept brothers back and by the looks of it, that had happened. The teenager was proud of her father for deciding to simply face his past.

She concentrated back on the book but felt it strangely hard to concentrate suddenly. The girl shook her head as a slight dizzy spell came over her. She closed her eyes and rubbed them.

"[How long have I been studying?]" Erna mused and looked at clock on the computer. An eyebrow rose when seeing that it had at least been two hours, since she began.

"[Oookay, I think five minute break is in order,]" she stood up and stretched her arms high. Then paused the music program and took of the headphones.

The teenagers turned towards the doorway of her room but stopped on the way as suddenly she felt this horrible itch in her throat. The girl then entered a short and dry coughing fit.

 _[I better get a drink],_ Erna thought rubbing her throat and grimaced. She walked out of the room but was barely on the hallway when the girl had to cough again.

 _[Ow, that hurt,]_ she leaned forward half bent, trying to regain balance. But felt disoriented and the walls seemed to be moving.

Erna managed to regain her composure and went into the kitchen. Grimacing slightly at the sore throat, she decided to make tea instead of drinking cold water like the original plan was.

She filled a cup and put it in the microwave. While waiting for the water to heat another coughing fit hit her.

 _[Damn, I'm not getting sick am I?]_ she thought.

"[Sweetie, are you alright?]" Donatello entered the kitchen. He had heard her coughing from the study. He froze when Erna looked at him smiling.

"[Good lord, your face is red,]" he said alarmed and rushed towards his daughter and placed his hand on her forehead. The turtle cringed. "[Erna, you're boiling.]"

"[I am?]" she asked weakly and felt dizzy again. Her father grabbed her as she stumbled.

"[You are going to bed now,]" he said and didn't even wait for the girl to comply. He simply picked her up into his arms and carried his daughter to her room.

Don helped Erna undress despite her weak protests and tucked her in. He then raced back out and to the bathroom to get a thermometer. As he was heading back to Erna's room both Leo and Mikey were now peeking out of the study.

"Is everything ok?" Leonardo asked although he didn't like the look on his brother.

"Erna is sick," Donatello simply responded as he raced past them and into his daughter's bedroom. He knelt down beside Erna's bed and had her put the thermometer in her mouth.

"[I… am feeling a bit dizzy,]" she whispered with her eyes half closed.

"[Shh, it's alright,]" Don shushed and cupped her right cheek. After a minute he removed the thermometer and grimaced at the sight.

"[Ok, Erna you have a burning fever, you are staying in bed for now. Where you making tea in the microwave?]" he asked her. The girl nodded slowly.

Her father was about to rise up but turned instead when there was a light tap on his shoulder. Leo stood behind him and held a steaming cup of tea in his hand.

"It was in the microwave, just needed to add the bag," the blue clad turtle said and handed his brother the cup.

"Thanks," Don smiled gratefully and accepted the cup. He turned back to his daughter, sat on the edge of the bed before helping her rise so she could drink the tea.

"I added honey in it, it should help with the coughing, good thing she was already starting to make a tea so everything was at hand," Leonardo said.

"Yeah… wanted tea… coughed earlier so hard," Erna whispered weakly.

"[Shhh, just lie back down and rest,]" Don helped her ease back down on the bed and took the now half empty cup and put it on the nightstand.

"[Just go to sleep sweetie, I'll be right outside if you need me,]" he whispered and stroke her blonde hair gently. Erna smiled a bit before she slowly nodded off. Don gulped and stood up.

He didn't address Leonardo as he walked out of the room pushing past Mikey, who was in the doorway and went straight for his study. His two brothers followed and saw were their brother now sat at his desk and was desperately trying to fight back tears.

"Don? She isn't seriously ill is she?" Leo asked concerned walking to his brother and placed a hand on his carapace.

"Same symptoms," Donatello whispered and now covered his face in his palms. "She has the same symptoms."

"Same symptoms… w-what are you talking about?" the blue clad turtle asked although he had a gnawing suspicions. _Please oh please tell me it isn't the same thing._

"Same symptoms and Master Splinter had," Don cried. "It's the same, dry coughing, dizziness, burning fever."

"Oh Donny," Leo on impulse took his brother in a hug. He desperately hoped it was just a coincidence and not the same disease and had taken their father. Don clung on him, crying bitterly.

"Is everything alright?" Casey appeared in the doorway. Mikey turned towards him, his green face almost pale and eyes wide open in shock and fear.

"E-Erna is sick," the orange clad turtle whispered.

"Possibly with the same and what Master Splinter died off," Leonardo said and hugged his brother tighter.

 _Oh crud,_ Casey cringed, remembering how devastated his friends had been when their father had died of his sickness. And now it seemed they were going to relive the horror all over again, and this time through Donatello's daughter.

 **End chapter 10**

* * *

 **A/N:** I realized people actually liked Erna when I got a few "Don't you dare kill Erna you bastard." replies back in the day.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 30/03 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

He stirred the content of the pot slowly, the events of the past few hours still playing in his mind. Outside the wind only reminded him that they were stuck and even if it subsided there was no telling when the roads would be cleared. The turtle sighed and dried a tear from his face.

 _This doesn't have to be the same,_ he thought. _Maybe it's just a sore throat and a fever. Nothing else._

But the turtle wasn't convincing himself easily. His mind went back in time, back when they all still lived together and Splinter was still alive.

* * *

" _Sensei, are you alright?" Donatello looked up from his breakfast when he heard the coughing._

" _I am fine, my son, just a dry throat. A cup of tea will cure it nicely," the old ninja master said smiling. He sat on the other end of the table and in his gnarly hands was tea cup._

" _Are you sure, Master?" Leonardo looked up from the newspaper he was reading, the turtle frowned slightly worried. Although their father was probably the strongest person they knew, the fact still remained; he wasn't getting any younger._

" _Thank you for your concern, Leonardo, but this is just a slight itch in the throat," his father assured him and drank from his cup. Leo and Don glanced at each other. They somehow felt like their father was not telling the whole story._

* * *

The turtle tasted the soup and nodded satisfied. At least they would have it ready and just need to heat it when Erna woke up. She wouldn't probably be able to handle anything heavier.

He dearly hoped it was just flu or something that the girl would weather off in couple of days. Once again the turtle wasn't too convinced; he remembered that they thought the same thing with their father.

* * *

" _Well he's very warm, but he should hopefully be better if he just rests and doesn't overdo himself," Donatello said as he stepped out of their father's room. In front of him stood three concerned turtles, they all cringed when hearing the coughing coming from the room._

" _He's going to be ok, Donny, right?" Mikey asked hopeful. Don smiled at his brother._

" _Sure he is, just a little flu. Nothing serious," he said refraining from saying that a little flu could actually turn serious, especially if you were as old as Master Splinter._

" _Anything we can do?" Leonardo asked._

" _We got aspirin if needed, but we might need some other medicine. I'll go to April and Casey and ask them to buy some for us," the purple masked turtle said._

" _But he is going to be all right?" Raphael asked. Don sighed rubbing his forehead tiredly. He did understand his brothers concern, hadn't Splinter often reminded them that one day he would be gone?_

" _Yes Raphael, he's going to be all right. This happens to everybody, we just need to let him rest," the purple clad one told him. "Just make sure that he stays in bed. I'm going to April and Casey's for meds."_

" _Just make tea with honey in it for him for the coughing, make sure he's comfortable. I'll be right back," Don said as he walked to the ladder._

* * *

 _But then it wasn't a flu at all,_ he thought fighting back the tears. He sat down at the kitchen table, trying not to sob. Had to be strong, enough crying.

* * *

 _Leonardo and Michelangelo looked up from the couch when they heard the horrible coughing fit coming from Splinters room. Donatello came out of the lab and halted, frowning in concern._

" _Don?" Leo looked at him but his brother didn't answer and hurried into his sensei's bedroom._

 _The two turtles stood up and walked closer to the room. They could hear the soft voice of Donatello and the hoarse voice of Splinter. They were talking to each other about something and Leo heard 'blood sample'._

 _Don came running out of the room and went straight for his lab. He returned very shortly after that, with equipment take blood samples. The purple clad one rushed into Splinter's room. Leo and Mikey followed._

" _I-is everything alright?" the blue masked ninja asked in a low voice. Splinter held back a painful groan and just nodded. Donatello didn't answer and just extracted the necessary amount so he could make tests. When it was done he rose up and whispered something to the old rat who gave a single nod._

" _Leo, make some herbal tea for Master Splinter. The type that is good for fever," Don told his brother as he hurried past him and went straight for the lab._

" _Very well, come Mikey, let Master Splinter rest," Leo said and ushered his brother out of the room. "Rest Master Splinter, you'll be ok."_

 _Splinter smiled at his son, restraining from grimacing in pain._

* * *

The turtle remembered all the tests that had been done on Splinter. The blood sample had been inconclusive so other methods had to be tried to determine what was wrong. Finally Don discovered that some sort of a virus had infected his lungs.

He woke up from his thoughts when somebody else entered the kitchen. He looked up and saw it was Leo, the blue masked turtle smiled although rather weakly, he was worried as well.

"She'll be alright Mikey," he said.

"That's what Don said about Master Splinter," Mikey whispered, Leonardo sat down in front of him.

"Well, Don didn't know then. None of us did, but we know now," he told his little brother reassuringly.

"Where is Don?" the orange masked one asked, his head dropped and he fixed his eyes on the tabletop. "Is he ok?"

"I saw him go into Erna's room to check on her, but no Mikey I don't think he's ok. Even if this is just a small bug that she will shake off in couple of days, it is still a harsh reminder for him. I just hope this small amount of healing we have managed to accomplish doesn't go down the drain because of this." Leo sighed heavily. He knew it still would take so little for the wall to rise again, especially since it was just so recently torn down.

* * *

 _Donatello sat in front of the computer but he wasn't working. He just sat; half leaned forward with his hands clasped together, staring horrorstricken at the floor. It had been days since their father got sick and he discovered what exactly was wrong. But unfortunately, he had also discovered something else._

 _His eyes were watering but the turtle held back the tears, stubbornly dried them off before they could leak down his beak. He didn't notice when somebody walked into the lab, a hand was placed gently on his shoulder._

" _Don?" it was Leo._

" _Leo," Don whispered and his head sunk. "I…I can't…"_

" _What?" his brother asked._

" _I can't cure him… I can't find a cure," Donatello whispered. The hand on his shoulder stiffened for a moment but then relaxed again._

" _He wants to speak with us, that's why I came to fetch you," Leonardo told him and patted him on the shoulder._

 _Donatello rose up slowly but still hung his head as he followed the other turtle out. They walked to Splinter's chamber were Raph and Mike were already present. The purple clad one cringed when their father coughed hard. But even now, so bedridden, the old ninja master still appeared strong in front of his sons._

" _My sons," he said smiling when all of his four sons were present._

 _Donatello stepped forward and fell to his knees beside the bed. He grabbed for Splinters weak hand._

" _I'm sorry Master," he whispered. "I can't find a cure… I can't…"_

" _Shh," Splinter hushed him. He weakly reached with his free hand to place it gently on Donatello's crown._

" _Do not fret Donatello, my son. You may not have found a cure but at least we know you tried. You have not failed me or your brothers, you have succeeded in keeping your vigilant and you like me fought to the very last moment. I will die with the knowledge that you did your best and that is all I can ask of you," he said._

 _The other turtles frowned slightly in concern when hearing their father's words. Don just hung his head lower, squeezing his eyes shut to prevent the tears from escaping. Splinter put his hand up against his mouth as he had to cough. The ninja master looked at his other sons who stood nearby._

" _Yes I fear my time is short now, but I will die knowing I raised four great warriors, four great ninjas, four great sons. Remember my teachings; keep on practicing and honing your skills. Help each other, draw upon one another. Together there is nothing your four minds cannot accomplish. Remember the true force that binds you."_

 _Splinter halted on his speech as he had to cough again. The last sentences had been familiar, spoken many years ago when they faced for the first time a possible loss of their father._

" _Remember always," Splinter continued. "I love you all, my sons."_

* * *

Donatello sat in Erna's computer chair; one arm was on the table the other rested on his thigh. The turtle had been recalling the final moments with his father. Only half an hour after Splinter's talk with his sons, he had left this world.

Erna still slept soundly, her breathing was steady. Only occasionally her body complained about irritation in her throat by coughing, but they were mild and never hard enough to wake her up. Donatello smiled weakly at the still form of her daughter; he had to admit having a habit to freak out when she got sick. Even when it was just a common cold, the mere thought that he could lose her frightened him to no end.

She had pretty much been the only thing that had kept him stable for the past 13 years. Her laughter, playfulness and innocence back when he first found her had helped soothe his wounds. He needed her, just as much as she needed him.

He glanced towards the door when he heard a knock. It opened slightly and Leo peeked in.

"Mikey made some soup, but overdid it a bit so there is a bit much of it. Should I bring some for you?" he asked. Don shook his head, he was not feeling hungry the slightest.

"There… there are containers in the left cupboard over the stove," he told his blue masked brother. "Put the soup in those and… just put it in the fridge."

"Alright," Leo nodded and then he glanced towards his niece. "How is she?"

"She's sleeping," Donatello whispered looking back at the teenager. "Still has a high fever."

"She will be ok, Don," Leonardo said with confidence in his voice. His brother made no signs that he had acknowledged him, so the blue masked one backed out and closed the door.

On the hallways he met Casey Jones who was just leaving the guest room. The man approached the turtle scratching his head nervously. Leo stopped wondering what his friend was up to.

"Ya know… maybe I should risk it. Try get to town, for some meds," the human said. Leonardo wasn't very sure about that idea. He had peeked out just an hour ago and the front hall had almost been snowed in.

"I don't know Casey, the storm is still pretty bad, it might just not be worth the risk if you get stuck or worse," the blue masked turtle said.

"Yeah I know." The human nodded while grunting in frustration. "Just feel so useless suddenly. All I can do really is just hang around."

"I know how you feel Casey," Leonardo told the man, smiling slightly. "But just by being around you are more help than you might realize. Don and Erna need friends and family right now to be around and that's what we are doing."

"Mikey made too much soup, you want some of it?" He gestured to the kitchen.

"Yeah, I guess," the man said and followed the turtle.

* * *

Erna felt like her head was going to explode at a moment notice. She slowly opened her eyes a bit and caught a glimpse of her father sitting beside the bed in her computer chair. The girl smiled weakly and tried to open her eyes more. He hadn't noticed yet as his head was hung, like he was thinking.

 _[You always do that,]_ she thought staring at her father knowing he would soon be aware of it. _[You always have to sit by my bedside when I'm sick.]_

Just like she suspected, Don became aware and looked up. He smiled warmly when seeing that his daughter was awake. Quickly the turtle scooted the chair closer; he took her left hand with his but used the right to gently lay it on her burning hot forehead.

"[You're still very warm. How do you feel?]" he asked softly, gently caressing her forehead.

"[Tired, got a headache,]" Erna murmured and enjoyed the cool hand on her burning skin.

"[Your uncle made some soup, I know you probably don't feel hungry but you might want to try swallowing some of it down,]" Donatello said, he winched when his daughter had to cough a bit.

"[I'll try.]" the girl nodded and closed her eyes. She was unexpectedly half picked up and drawn in a tight hug. The teenager tried to embrace her father as well but her arms felt so heavy that she barely slung them around him.

"[I don't want to lose you,]" he cried, the tears were flowing freely.

"[You won't lose me, father.]" Erna tried to sound reassuring, but her weak voice didn't help much. He always overreacted when she got sick. She guessed this was just one of these cases. Although his reaction seemed much stronger now and she could detect more than the usual anxiety.

"[How about that soup?]" she asked hoping to distract him bit. Set is mind on something else. Erna didn't feel hungry but this would at least help a bit.

"[I'll go get you some of it,]" Don whispered and reluctantly let go and helped her ease back down to the bed. The turtle stood up and left the room.

It wasn't Donatello who returned but Leonardo. He held a tray with a bowl of soup, a glass of water and two white pills for her headache and fever no doubt. Erna raised an eyebrow at seeing her uncle come instead of her father. The blue masked turtle grinned.

"I practiced my very rusty older brother authority," he said and placed the tray on the nightstand next to her bed, the ninja sat on the computer chair.

"I told him to sit down and eat and try relaxing a bit," the turtle told her. Erna nodded in understanding. Leo picked up the glass of water and the pills. "Here, you might want to have those. Don told me that these were for headaches and also helped with the fever."

Erna rose slightly, aided by Leo, ate the pills and drank the water. Her uncle allowed her to slide back down and put the glass back on the tray.

"My… father always overreacts… when I'm sick," Erna told him with a smile. "Even if it's only cold, he jumps almost every time I sneeze."

 _I hope he is just overreacting,_ Leonardo thought but smiled back.

"Well I guess he just got the father part down, many parents feel the need of smothering their children, especially when they are at their weakest," he said with a chuckle. Erna smiled wider, that was just too true.

"Although I am not a parent, our father could be a regular mother hen when we were very sick or badly injured," Leo continued.

"That sounds like my father," Erna mentioned.

"You think you're ready to eat the soup?" the turtle asked, Erna thought about it for a moment but then nodded. Probably best to at least try, the medicine as working on her headache and she didn't feel as dizzy.

Leonardo helped her sit up, but when the girl tried to pick up the bowl she felt just too weak. Her uncle tried not to chuckle and picked it up for her.

"You are…going to feed me aren't you?" Erna asked, the turtle grinned wide.

"Only if you don't want soup spilled all over your duvet," he said. "And don't try to say you're fine. You are looking at the second runner up for the championship of being stubborn when you're sick."

"Who's the champion?" the teenager asked handing over the spoon and was fed the soup. It was difficult to swallow but, the girl managed. She noticed that Leo had become a bit silent before finally answering.

"Your Uncle Raphael," he then said with a half-smile. "Even once when he had a bad case of pneumonia he tried to get out of bed, growling at us that he was fine and didn't need to be babied."

"He was stubborn?" Erna wondered, at that Leonardo couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"You don't know the half of it; I think he was the dictionary example of being stubborn, but underneath all that attitude he put up was a heart of gold. He was a person you wanted behind your back in a tough situation," he told her.

"Tell me more… about him," the girl asked. Leonardo put the bowl away as Erna didn't seem to be able to stomach more. He got a bit more comfortable in the chair. Erna slid back down into lying position.

"Raphael was a turtle you don't mess with, he was a hit first ask questions later kind of guy. He hardened his exterior with bad ass attitude but underneath it all he was actually very caring. He was very loyal and although his rebellious streaks were annoying and often disrespectful towards our father, he would be there if somebody needed it. He just never liked the attention," the turtle shook his head.

"Mikey dubbed him sometimes our secret weapon, if you had ever seen him in battle you would understand why. He was not one to back out of a fight and sometimes I think we won many of our battles just because of his rage," Leonardo continued.

"What was his mask color?" Erna whispered, Leo looked at her wondering why she would ask that. He then realized that Erna of course had never seen Raphael, only heard about him.

"I'm sorry, thought I had mentioned that already," he said apologizing for not answering right away. "He wore red, rather appropriate color for him."

"Red?" Erna frowned but couldn't go further as she had to cough. "He wore red?"

"Yes he did, something wrong?" Leonardo asked curious how his niece was suddenly so thoughtful.

"What… what weapons did he use?" she wondered.

"He used sai, it's a short ranged weapon but can be very deadly in the hands of an expert. Raphael mastered it and carried twin sai on his belt," the turtle told her.

"Left bottom drawer," Erna said unexpectedly and tried to point towards her desk. Leo raised his brow but turned in his chair so he could open the drawer in question. In there he found a blue folder, closed with a black ribbon.

"My sketches," the teenager whispered. "There is… an image, I mean drawing of a weapon… sai."

Leonardo opened the folder wondering why she was showing him this, he knew naturally what a Sai looked like. Then again he hadn't seen any practice sai in their weapons rack so maybe she wanted to have it confirmed. The turtle went through various sketches of landscapes, farm animals and even two of Donatello before ending up on a sketch of two Sai in a very good detail.

"Those his weapons?" Erna asked. Leonardo nodded; these were indeed the type of weapons Raphael had used. The fork like shape with the middle blade longer than the other two and a short handle. But suddenly the turtle frowned, on one of the handles was a very familiar dent on the bottom were the leather didn't cover it.

 _One of Raphael's sai did have a dent on the bottom, he never bothered to fix it since it didn't compromise his fighting or the balance,_ the blue clad one thought.

"When did you draw these?" Leonardo asked.

"When I be ten… gah stupid English. When I was ten," Erna whispered, she was starting to get sleepy again.

"Two days… before, I was lost in a fog…" she murmured and drifted off to sleep. Leo smiled and put the drawings back and returned the folder to the desk.

The turtle stood up, picked up the tray and left the room. He went straight into the kitchen but nobody was there. He cleaned up the bowl and the glass before putting everything away. Then walked back out and found Mikey and Casey in the living room.

"Where is Don?" Leo asked not spotting the owner of the house.

"He went into his study, I think he's still upset," Mike said, he was lying in the sofa. "Is Erna ok?"

"Well she still has a fever and is coughing, but I am sure she'll be fine," the older ninja said reassuringly and left the living room heading for Donatello's study.

"Don?" Leo knocked on the door and opened it. He found his brother sitting at his desk. The turtle didn't look to be doing anything; just sat at the desk with both hands on his head, elbows on the desk-top.

"She ate part of the soup and took the pills, she is resting now," Leonardo reported and entered the room. Don moved his head, apparently in a nod.

"Don it would probably be a bit of a coincidence that she caught the same thing Splinter did. You said it yourself that we couldn't be carriers, the virus doesn't survive in a reptilian body. Casey and April never showed any sign of being sick after visiting the lair, not even when Splinter was alive," he said as the turtle walked closer to the desk. There was no answer.

Leo thought it over, wondering if it was perhaps best to distract his brother from Erna's illness and what she possible could have. After talking with his niece he was now positive that it wasn't the same virus. Splinter had, reluctantly, admitted a great pain in breathing and his coughs had been much harder. Erna showed no such signs and the only pain she had complained about was a headache. Splinter had not had any headaches.

"Tell me. How good is Erna with details?" he asked in an attempt to distract his brother.

Donatello laid his arms down on the desk-top and glanced at his brothers. There were clear signs on his face that he had been crying. A small smile was crawling on his beak, always a good sign.

"Very good," he said, a bit of a pride in his voice. "She almost has a photographic memory. I remember her drawing a bird once she saw two days before, in every single detail. Even a slight dent she had spotted on the beak."

 _Hm, interesting._ Leo's mind drifted back to the sai sketch. _Probably a coincidence though._

"Erna asked me about Raphael so I told her about him," Leo said, Don looked at him expressionless. "She asked what color of his mask was and when I told her she acted a bit strange. Then she asked me what weapon he used. After I told her, she told me to get a folder that contained a very detailed drawing of twin sai."

"Yes, I remember her sketching that. About six years ago, shortly after she was lost in the fog I told you about," the mask-less turtle said and fell silent for a moment. "You know, there was something I didn't tell you about that."

"What was that?" his brother asked. Don bit his lips contemplating what to say.

"She was younger of course and didn't know about you guys at all. That happened when she was twelve. At one point when I was calming her down after finding her, she mentioned she had been protected while waiting for me," Donatello rubbed the back of his neck. "She tried to tell me about somebody who she said looked like me, just with a red mask and with the large forks in the belt. Said he had been there, protecting her until daddy came."

"I brushed it off back then; I was just so relieved to find her. Figured perhaps the fog had been playing tricks on her," he whispered shaking his head. "I really just forgot about it later on."

 _Forgot about it accidentally or by choice?_ Leonardo had to wonder but didn't voice it out loud.

He saw his brother's face becoming sorrowful again. Don remembered again that his daughter was lying ill in her bed. Leo walked forward and put one hand reassuringly on his shoulder.

"Even if she had the virus, Don, you know now how to cure it don't you?" he asked, hoping that little fact might actually cheer his brother up. Donatello looked up at him.

"I only found out how to kill the virus, I never actually made the antidote," he whispered. "And I have none of my notes."

 _Smooth move, Leonardo._ The blue masked turtle put a palm over his face restraining himself from groaning in frustration. "I'm sorry, Don; I probably shouldn't have brought that up."

Donatello didn't answer; he just looked down at the floor. Leo sighed and gave his brother's shoulder a slight squeeze. He was still sure it wasn't the same thing that was affecting Erna but how was he going to convince her father about that?

 **End Chapter 11**

* * *

 **A/N:** The belief in spirits and ghosts is very strong in Iceland and quite honestly it didn't feel like a story set in Iceland without implying that the spirit of Raphael was watching


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 16/04 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

Mikey and Casey almost jumped when the phone rang. They had been so involved in a car race tournament that began airing live on one of the TV channels, the two had almost completely forgotten where they were. But none of them had a chance to stand up and answer it. Donatello came running into the living room and picked up the handset.

"[Yes hello,]" he responded, trying not to sound too depressed.

"[Hey Aron, we were so worried about you and Erna. I just had to call to see how you two were doing!]"

Casey and Mike looked at each other and then towards the phone. The woman's voice that had suddenly emerged from the phone had been just too loud and clear. They heard each and every word she said. Yet Don didn't even move the handset away from his head, apparently very used to this voice.

"[Oh hi Jónína, I take it that the power generator I built is still working for you,]" he said and sat down on the chair beside the phone.

"[Like a charm honey. Of course we forgot all about it, it wasn't until the power went out and five minutes later came back on that we remembered.]"

"[Good, then its working like mine. It's a pretty bad storm out there,]" Don mentioned.

"[Yes, they aren't expecting it to subside until late Tuesday,]" was the response. "[But how are you two doing?]"

"[My family found me,]" Don said. Mikey and Casey glanced at the turtle; they didn't understand a word that was being spoken. But they had a feeling what it was about.

"[Your family? Of course, I remember you telling something about them at one time. How fantastic, so you and Erna have a company during the storm. That's very good to hear Aron. I'm so worried about you two at times.]"

"[Yes it is,]" Donatello smiled weakly. But it soon disappeared. "[Erna is sick.]"

"[Oh dear, how is she. Is it bad?]"

"[She has a fever, is coughing and complained about a headache earlier,]" the turtle was fighting back the tears.

"[Sounds like she just caught the bug that has been going around here for the past week.]"

Mikey was starting to drum his fingers on the couch arm. He couldn't wait to interrogate Don about this phone call. One word seemed to stick out of there for him. It had been mentioned few times by now.

 _What does 'Aron' mean?_ He thought and scratched his head. His attention returned back to the race. "NO damn red car, I wanted the black to win."

"Are you kiddin' me, the black one doesn't even have a good engine," Casey said, waving an arm towards the TV.

"But it is the coolest car," Mike said with a pout.

"[A-Are you sure?]" Donatello asked with s heavy frown.

"[Positive Aron. She is probably just having the little flu that's been going around here. I think few kids from her school were sent home sick few days ago. Davíð Fjalar's son got the same thing now, he started two days ago and is getting better already,]" Jónína assured him.

"[Björn and I will come over when the storm subsides and the road has been cleared, you'll see, she will be fine. Just give her lots of your usual fatherly love and keep her in bed for at least a day or two. She shouldn't eat anything solid, only soup and drink a lot of water.]"

"You know what Aron means?" Mike looked at Casey who gave the turtle a glare.

"Does it look like I speak Icelandic?" he asked.

"Hey, maybe that's Icelandic for turtle," the orange masked one suggested. The man shrugged, they both turned when they heard a click. Don had apparently said goodbye and hung up. He sat slightly leaned forward and was rubbing his beak with both hands, thoughtful expression on his face.

"So, who was it?" Mikey asked. Donatello looked up and sat up straight in the chair.

"Jónína, Björn's wife, the old couple told you guys about that I bought this house from," he said.

"Oh, what's she want?" the other turtle wondered.

"Just checking on me and Erna," Don muttered and stood up from the chair. "Making sure we are alright."

"Don, what does 'Aron' mean?" his brother asked, not about to let him escape repeating the phone call.

"What does… oh that, you heard her?" Don turned away from the living room door to face Mikey.

"Heard her? I'm surprised you can still hear, you had the headset up against your ear," Michelangelo grinned. Donatello actually smiled at that.

"Yes she can speak a bit loudly, heh well Aron doesn't really mean anything. It's a name," the turtle explained. "My name that is."

"What?" Leonardo was just at that moment opening the door and walking into the living room.

"I had to add an Icelandic name to my own," Donatello said and sat back down in the phone chair. "In order to look correct on the papers, it was either that or changing my name completely. This way I still have my name Donatello."

"Papers?" both Mikey and Casey looked very confused; Leonardo just frowned and folded his arms. Don rubbed his right temple tiredly.

"I'm an Icelandic citizen. I'm registered, I pay taxes and everything. They just don't know that I'm an over five foot walking talking mutant turtle," he explained. "Look this country is just too small for me to stay hidden like back in New York. This way my daughter can also go to school without too much complication."

"Ok, just didn't think one would be able to pull that off. Especially considering who we are," Leonardo said, he was still a bit worried.

But before they could continue this discussion the phone rang again. Don hesitated for a slight moment before picking up the handset again. The others watched as he greeted the caller in Icelandic, but then his face fell and he switched.

"Oh hi April," he said quietly.

"A damn, I forgot she was going to call later today," Casey whispered to Mike, they had all frozen when Donatello had mentioned the name.

"No, Casey didn't mention that you were going to call," the turtle glared at the man who had suddenly discovered how fascinating the floor was.

"April…" Don took a deep breath but he realized he couldn't and gave the handset to Leo. The turtle stood up and left the living room.

"Hi April? It's Leo, no he left the living room," the blue clad ninja told the woman.

"He's under a bit of stress, his daughter got sick this morning," he told the woman as he got seated in the chair. "It reminded him just too badly of how Splinter got sick."

"No, no she's doing fine; she could eat a bit and only really complained about a headache. I'm willing to bet it's just a mild case of the flu or something," Leonardo looked at the others. Both Mikey and Casey had turned back to the TV, but were keeping one eye on the phone call. "I must admit that I was a bit scared first that it was the same, but now I am sure it wasn't. Splinters condition started to show before he got feverish. This happened more suddenly."

"Yes he didn't maim us at all, we also discovered the source of the problem and are working on it. It will be a slow process but since Don hasn't thrown us out yet, he's accepted us again," Leonardo had to question himself though, the snow storm did prevent Don from shoving them to the door and the recent events could risk everything.

"Did Casey tell you about the snow storm? Yes it hit just about as we arrived at Don's place. They are not expecting it to go down until after the weekend," he decided to change the subject a bit. Unfortunately April wasn't about to. Leo cringed when asked something the others couldn't hear.

"Well… like I said we are still working on it. Things are still on sensitive ground and with Erna getting sick so suddenly, well. We'll let you know when you can come," the turtle told her. Then he nodded and looked at Casey. "Casey, she wants to speak with you."

The man stood up and walked over to Leo who gave him the handset. The blue clad one went to sit down beside Mikey on the sofa.

"You think Don is ok?" the younger turtle asked glancing at his older brother.

"Wish I could say yes," Leonardo shook his head.

Mike eyed the TV for a short moment before standing up. He walked out of the living room with the intensions to find his brother. Don was neither in the study or the kitchen, a peek into Erna's bedroom also revealed no turtle. The orange clad one then went for the basement, sure enough he found his brother in the dojo.

Donatello had put up his purple mask and was in full Bo kata, twirling the staff with both hands, then only with either the right or left. Occasionally he would take battle position and attack an invisible opponent with the staff weapon.

Mikey gulped, he recalled back when they all still lived together that Don, when practicing, always had a thoughtful and concentrated look. Also he was usually very calm yet swift in movements. Not this time, frustration, anger and pain were on his face. Attacking movements were done fiercely and occasionally he would let out a growl.

The orange clad turtle looked around; he hadn't taken his nunchaku down with him. They were still in his backpack. Only Leo had retrieved his swords and now once more carried them on his back. Spotting the weapon rack, Mike was slightly surprised to see a pair of 'chucks there. He hadn't noticed them this morning. The turtle glanced back at his brother who either was ignoring him, or hadn't noticed him at all.

Don hadn't in fact noticed him. He was just too busy venting out. His daughter was sick, there was a snowstorm outside preventing anybody to come or go and then there was the phone call. He had wanted to apologize to April for his behavior when she called few days earlier, but just couldn't do it. Just listening to her voice brought up the painful reminder. It didn't help either that the husband was currently staying in his house.

As he was about to strike an invisible adversary his senses kicked into gear. Swiftly the now purple masked ninja turned and blocked the incoming nunchaku. For a moment they just stood and stared, Don with an angry scowl and Mike with a slight smile.

"Figured you might want a punching bag instead of thin air," the orange clad turtle then broke the silence. "So why not let the family punching bag help you vent out?"

Don's scowl changed into a frown. It was new to him that Mikey referred to himself as a punching bag. Sure Raphael used to rough him up after one to many pranks, but that didn't mean he was just there for his brothers to kick around.

"You're not a punching bag," he said grimly. "But I accept the live opponent."

"Good." Mike smiled now a more familiar wide grin.

They began their workout. Don quickly found his frustration and anger fade away now that he wasn't alone. Mikey forced him to dwell more on the sparring than recent events. The purple clad one found himself actually enjoying this practice and a smile crept across his lips. However, there was something missing.

Don began to wonder as he tried to sweep his brother off his feet with the staff. He then used the Bo to block and incoming 'chuck attack from above. Mikey was smiling wide and spun his nunchakus, yet there was something not quite right.

Silence, Donatello realized what was wrong. The only sounds were the occasional grunts and the weapons clashing. Otherwise there was silence, Mikey wasn't taunting him. Trying to divert his attention, lose focus and bother him so he might lose his concentration. That had been one of his brother's best weapons against enemies, his taunts. The other turtles had slowly and eventually become quite immune to them, except maybe Raph, Mike could always push his buttons.

"Mike," Don addressed him finally after the sparring had gone on for a while.

"Yeah bro?" Mike blocked the incoming staff with the chain on the 'chucks.

"You're not taunting," Don mentioned as he just barely managed to dodge a punch.

The purple clad one frowned when he saw the nervous expression come over his brother. He tried to smile but it now seemed to be more of a struggle.

"I… I…" Mikey stammered and slowly came to a halt. Donatello stopped as well.

"I can't," the orange masked ninja then whispered, struggling to keep the grin but his eyes shone sorrow. "I can't… it…it reminds me of Raph."

"Oh," Don felt guilty now for having brought this up. He remembered what Leo had told him regarding Mikey.

"I just… every time I try, I can just hear his voice in my mind telling me to shut up," the orange clad turtle suddenly fell to the floor as his trembling knees gave in. Kneeling he began to cry. The nunchakus dropped from his hands.

"I miss him… I miss him so much… I want to hear him tell me to shut up… I want him to chase after me after I prank him… I… I…" Mike stuttered between the sobs.

"Oh Mike… I'm sorry," Don sighed and walked to his brother. He sat down and gently took him in a hug. "Sorry Mikey… I didn't mean to bring this up."

"A-after you… after you disappeared… he stopped… stopped telling me to shut up…" Mikey said while now clinging tight to his sibling. "He… like… he didn't want to… you know… say anything… that might hurt me… like… like he feared I would disappear too."

Don didn't say anything, just nodded and continued to pat Mike on the carapace. He hadn't realized how sensitive his little brother had become until now. He remembered Leonardo mentioning it, but it somehow just didn't connect.

"It's ok Mikey… I-I…" the purple masked one took a deep breath. "I miss him too."

He looked up when the feeling of being watched came over him. In the doorway to the dojo stood Leonardo, the blue masked turtle was still taking in the scene in front of him. Don raised an eye ridge when what looked like a brief flash of anger ran across his older brother's eyes.

"What happened?" Leo asked his voice and expression neutral. Mike freed himself from his brother's embrace before Donatello could answer; the orange clad one looked at the one wearing blue.

"Nothing… I was just… I got carried away in our sparring and I just got reminded," Mikey claimed and tried his best to grin. Leonardo folded his arms and he narrowed his eyes.

"Mikey, I know when you try to lie to me," he said sternly. Don frowned wondering why the orange clad turtle had tried that.

"Mike offered to spar with me, I agreed. During the sparring I noticed that Mikey didn't do his usual taunting I remembered. I inquired about that," Donatello said simply before his brother could open his mouth to answer Leo again.

"It's ok Leo, we haven't sparred for so long. He didn't know," Mike said and once more Don had to wonder about his brother's action. It was almost like Michelangelo was trying to protect him from something.

"Yes I guess that's true," Leonardo nodded and rather swiftly turned away and left the dojo.

"Phew, close call," Mikey said stroking imaginary sweat from his brow when their brother had disappeared.

"What do you mean close call?" Donatello asked putting one hand on his brother's shoulder. Mike glanced at him and now managed to retain his smirk.

"Heh… sorry," the orange masked turtle shook his head. "Leo just… well… he's a tad bit overprotective sometimes. He has a 'Mother Hen' mode now."

"Mother Hen mode?" Don asked raising both eye ridges this time.

"Yeah, I guess… it started shortly after Raph died. He went with me to the farm when I had my nervous breakdowns and panic attacks. He kind of started to well smother me and didn't take it well if Casey or April were lightly teasing me, you know in a friendly manner. In fact he didn't tolerate any teasing at all and he removed any possible reminders of you and Raph from the general area of the lair," Mike sighed and looked down. "He toned his behavior down though eventually but it can still happen."

"I'm sorry I reminded you," Don apologized but his brother just shook his head.

"That's ok. I mean I have to get over it eventually. It's just so hard sometimes, especially when I'm unprepared," he smiled now genuinely. Don smirked and squeezed Mike's shoulder gently.

"I kind of know what you mean," he said.

Mikey nodded and was rather glad to see his purple clad brother happy, having been so depressed since Erna got sick. He decided not to inquire more about the phone call, just in case it would bring something up. Instead the orange masked ninja stood up and helped his sibling to rise.

"So another round?" he asked after picking up his nunchakus.

"Don't see why not," Don smiled and retrieved his Bo.

* * *

Leonardo was walking past Erna's bedroom door when heard a phone ring. It came from the girl's room. The turtle carefully peeked inside and shook his head. Erna was already awake because of the phone and was trying to reach for her cell were it lay on the table.

"Don't bother," her uncle said and walked into the room. The teenager tried to protest when Leo picked up the phone but was to weak and slumped back to her bed.

"Hello?" the turtle answered putting the cell up against his head.

"[Um hi? Is this Erna's phone?]" Katrín asked, confused over the strange voice.

"Sorry I don't speak Icelandic, you were calling Erna?" Leonardo inquired; he glanced at Erna who watched with her eyes half closed.

"Uh, yeah is she there? Who is this?" Katrín frowned.

"Erna is a bit sick I'm afraid and won't be answering the phone today. I'm her father's brother, Leonardo," the turtle simply said seeing no harm in giving that information.

Katrín blinked on the other line, the accent was American and he was speaking English, but the girl couldn't remember her friend saying anything about having uncles.

"Um… could I speak with her father then instead?" she requested, already her overactive imagination playing many scenarios of what was happening.

"Yes of course, just a minute," Leo said and looked at Erna who had once more fallen asleep. Smiling the blue clad turtle left the room and went straight for the basement. In the dojo he saw that Don and Mike were still sparring.

"Don, phone for you," Leonardo addressed his purple clad brother. The two turtles stopped their match and the cell-phone was handed to Donatello.

"Donatello here," he said.

Katrín sighed in relief when hearing a more familiar voice.

"[Donatello? This is Katrín. I was trying to call Erna, but this Leonardo something answered her phone said he was your brother,]" the girl said.

"[Erna is sick,]" Don cringed when that was brought back up but managed to retain a calm manner. "[She's not answering the phone for today. Oh and yes Leonardo is my brother.]"

[ _Ookay.]_ Katrín's brow rose skyward. Now she definitely had to interrogate her friend when the chance came.

"[Alright, just wanted to know how she was doing while this storm is raging,]" she then said. They both said good bye and hung up.

Donatello gave Leonardo the phone back; his brother accepted it but didn't take his eyes off him.

"Who was it?" the blue masked ninja asked.

"Erna's friend from school," Don said as he and Mikey bowed for each other to officially end the match.

"Does she know?" Leo asked still fingering the phone. The purple clad one hesitated before nodding.

"She and her mother know, but they like Jónína and Björn keep our secret. Katrín is very trustworthy and good friend for Erna," Don told him while removing the mask from his head.

"Any more that knows?" Leo asked starting to get slightly worried. Much to his relief Donatello shook his head.

"Uh, the shower is upstairs right?" Mikey inquired his brother nodded and the orange clad turtle walked out of the dojo.

"Towels are in the closet in the bathroom!" Don called after him.

"And don't finish the hot water," Leo added.

"Oh there is no risk of that," his purple masked brother told him. Leonardo looked at him confused.

"It's all the hot water springs in this country. We have a continuous flow of natural hot water. There isn't even a hot water tank installed in this building," Don shrugged. "You have to be careful though with this water, it can go up to 176 degrees Fahrenheit in no time."

"Ouch." Was the first thing that sprang to Leo's mind.

"Indeed," Don said and was about to walk out of the dojo himself. He was stopped by Leonardo who put a hand on his shoulder.

"Um Don, about earlier," the blue masked turtle said and looked a bit ashamed. "I-I'm sorry if I came out a bit curt. I kind of… I just have developed this habit about Mikey and I…"

"No it's ok," his brother said. "Mikey told me, I understand really. Can't really blame you, for a while he was the only one you had wasn't it? Aside from April and Casey."

"Yeah," Leonardo nodded and let go of his brother. "It's true, I admit it. Sometimes I just… I just don't want to see him hurt again. It was so hard back when he broke down, he would cry for hours and there was nothing I could to calm him down."

It was Don's turn to put a hand on Leo's shoulder. His brother had hung his head for a moment as his mind raced back to the past. The blue clad one then looked up again.

"All of his improvements are because he learned you were alive," he said smiling weakly. "Ok you have enough problems going on; you don't need me to be burdening you with mine."

Donatello couldn't but grin at that. He had to admit that the sparring with Mikey had helped a lot. It took his mind of the current problem and allowed him to return back to it in a clearer thinking state. He admitted that he might have been overacting, Erna wasn't continuously coughing. That was always a very good sign.

"I better go and check on Erna," he then said and removed his hand from Leo's shoulder. He was maybe wrong about what her aliment was, but that didn't change the fact she was his little girl and was sick.

"She was sleeping when I left the room, but she could move when trying to reach for this," Leo said holding up the phone. Don felt even better hearing that. Splinter had hardly been able to move. Guess he was wrong after all.

 _I at least hope so,_ he thought as he and Leo left the Dojo.

 **End Chapter 12**

* * *

 **A/N:** Goood lord did I make a mistake when I first wrote this chapter. When Mikey and Casey were arguing about the cars, I had Casey originally say that the black car didn't have a "combustion engine". Since just about every car in existence have a combustion engine, I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking there.

And now we have finally reached the relevant chapter that I mentioned in the note on chapter 2. You may have noticed that Erna got sick and Jónína says that few other kids got sick too few days ago. The problem with viruses is that they can lay dormant in the body and then just suddenly flare up without notice, you can actually be a carrier without ever realizing it.

But I'm confirming it now and I'm surprised nobody caught it or if they did, didn't at least mentioned it. But yes Erna got sick from Mikey's flue all the way back to chapter 2 and yes Erna did spread the flu to the rest of her school, the other kids got the virus from Erna and some were just quicker to develop the syndromes.

Why didn't Leo then notice that she was similarly sick and Mikey had been? Well for one they all feared at first that it was the virus that killed Splinter, second Leonardo has currently a lot more on his mind than connecting Mikey's mild flue to Erna's.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 04/05 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

 **Iceland**

Monday morning came much like Sunday had, bellowing wind and no end in sight of the incoming snow. When Erna woke up she was feeling slightly better than yesterday. Still weak and feverish but at least she felt like she could sit up for longer than last time.

She looked up when the door to her room opened slightly, then it opened all the way and Casey looked inside.

"So you're up? They told me to check in to see if you were awake. I'm supposed to give you soup for breakfast," the man told her.

"Where is father?" Erna asked as she tried to rise up. Casey was quick to walk in and help her sit up.

"He and your uncles are down in the dojo, you know doing that sparring and stuff they usually did and well do," the man shrugged and smiled. "Ah, you want that soup."

"I'll try," the girl murmured. Casey nodded and disappeared out of the room. He came in shortly later with a tray; on it was a bowl of soup and just in case a glass of water and two pills.

"Donny told me to give you these if you needed it," the man pointed at the medicine as he put the tray on the nightstand, he sat down on the computer chair. "So ya feelin' better?"

"A little," Erna nodded and picked up the bowl, she began slowly eating the food. The teenager looked at Casey after a moment. "So how do you know father and his brothers?"

"Well, that's a story to tell," the man smirked and leaned a bit back in the chair.

"Ya see, I met their brother Raph first. It wasn't exactly a good first impression we both thought each other was nuts. I thought he was some sort of a punker idiot and he figured I was crazy. Well in a way I was," Casey chuckled as he began recalling the incident when he met Raphael.

"I was a bit of a vigilante back in the days. I figured the street needed cleanin' and the cops weren't doing anythin' about it," he told her. "I saw those two idiot mug an old lady but strangely enough some figure in a coat and with a fedora tripped them and then threw the bag back to the lady. But he let the muggers go. I figured that was my cue to teach them a lesson and jumped them in a park they ran into. Then the guy in the coat jumped me and started blabbing that it wasn't mine to be teachin' them a lesson and not in this way."

"I got a little pissed off that he was interfering and we had a short brawl and when I had him distracted I ran off. I mean this guy was just way too much for me to handle, he could flip over me like nothing easier," Casey continued and shook his head. "Then few days later I was fixin' my radio on the rooftop of the apartment complex I lived in, when I see on another rooftop, about a five foot tall turtle kicking around. That was your Uncle Raphael again, I recognized him on his red mask."

"I thought my uncles lived in the sewer, a subway station," Erna frowned and put the half-finished bowl back on the tray.

"Oh, so you don't know their origin story or nothin'?" Casey asked and nodded his head slightly when Erna answered yes. "I see."

"You see, my father rarely talk… uh talked about his past. I only knew he had brothers and they live in Ne…. lived in New York, because sometimes he slip up," the girl told him and sunk back into the bed to lie down.

"Well, I guess I'm not the one to tell that story, I guess you should ask your father about it," Casey said with a slight grin. "When he thinks he's ready that is, or you could try your uncles."

The door opened again and this time it was Donatello. He smiled warmly when seeing that his daughter was awake and walked in. Casey stood up and excused himself before leaving the room.

"[How are you feeling sweetie?]" Don asked as he sat down on the bedside. He took the opportunity to feel her forehead and felt slightly relieved that it wasn't as warm as yesterday.

"[Bit better,]" Erna said smiling weakly. "[You still have your mask on.]"

Don's smile changed into a grin, he lifted one hand to pat the purple mask that encircled his head. He was still waiting for the shower, as Mikey had pretty much already occupied it as soon as practice was over.

"[I forgot to take it off, I wanted to see if you were alright,]" the turtle admitted. He was about to remove it but his daughter stopped him by shaking her head.

"[Don't take it off, kind of nice to see it on when you're not training. Fits with your brothers,]" she said. Don chuckled when hearing that, he remembered back when he seldom took the mask off. Now it was rare he wore it outside of the dojo.

"[I talked with Jónína yesterday, she said you probably only had the bug that's been going around the area,]" Donatello then told her.

"[Ugh, yeah I remember now, two kids in my class got sent home last week,]" the girl said. Her father looked down and was smiling more sheepishly now.

"[Should have known, I… Erna I sorry if I overreacted about it… just your first symptoms they were so similar,]" he sighed and glanced at Erna. "[I panicked.]"

"[I know, you always do,]" the teenager smiled and lifted her hand to pat his that was closest.

"[You know father, I'm glad I could meet my uncles finally,]" she then said. Don took her hand and held it, squeezing it lightly.

"[You should have met them a lot sooner,]" he whispered and sighed sorrowfully. "[A whole lot sooner.]"

"[Father… do you have any pictures of Uncle Raphael?]" Erna asked carefully. "[I-I would like to see how he looks like.]"

Don surprised her a bit by smiling. He leaned down to kiss her on the forehead before standing up. The turtle told her he would only be a moment and left the bedroom. The now purple masked one walked straight for his study and entered it. From the secret drawer under his desk he got the key and opened the cupboard. He picked up the black box, opened it and rescued the group picture from the bottom.

Without even bothering to return the box to the cupboard, the turtle walked back out of the study and returned to his daughters room. He sat back down on the bedside and helped her sit up, then gave the photo to the teenager.

"[This is the last photo taken, 13 or so years ago,]" he said. Erna looked at the picture and smiled wide.

 _[That's him],_ the girl thought as she stared at the red masked turtle in his threatening pose. _[That's him, I can swear it almost.]_

* * *

 _The fog had come so suddenly, the little girl hardly had chance to get her bearings straight. She tried to do what her father had taught her, keep a good observation of her surroundings. Find something that she could use._

 _But the fog exaggerated everything, now things that could be familiar looked so alien. Erna was getting scared; she could hear the raspy hoot of a raven somewhere in the distance. Somehow it just made things even that scarier for a little ten year old girl._

 _Erna tried though, she continued to walk but it was chilly and the silence was becoming eerie. She lost track of time and was getting desperate, there was no end in sight of the fog. It only seemed to become thicker with every step see took._

" _[Father,]" she whispered. But that didn't make him magically appear like he sometimes seemed to do. He always said it wasn't magic, just very good stealth, something he was trying to teach her as well._

" _[Father!]" The tears were threatening to come, she was now really scared._

 _The little girl tried though, tried to think. Now nothing seemed familiar and she was also getting cold. She sniffled and ended up sitting down with her back up against a large rock. There Erna looked around, but there was nothing now but the fog. Nothing that looked even remotely familiar._

" _[F-father, I-I'm lost,]" she cried and drew the legs up to her chest and hugged them. The girl was sobbing and buried her tear stained face in her knees._

" _Why are ya cryin' kid?"_

 _Erna looked up sniffling. Using the sleeves on her blue jacket she dried her cheeks. The tears still did crawl down. She eyed around but saw nothing but the fog._

" _[Hello?]" she called. But there was no answer so she buried her face back in her knees._

" _Hey, don't cry kid." There was this voice again. It spoke foreign words, words similar to ones she had heard her father speak. Again the girl looked up and her tearful eyes opened wide._

 _Crouching in front of her was what looked almost like her father, but there were still some differences. This turtle wore a red mask and on the belt he carried two short weapons. For Erna they looked almost like forks._

 _There was also something else different; the fog didn't just seem to go around him but through him as well. It was almost like he was there and yet wasn't. The turtle smirked at the wide eyed and surprised girl._

" _[You look like father,]" she whispered._

" _Don't worry kid, I'll protect you 'til he comes," the turtle said and surprisingly Erna understood him. "I'll protect you 'til daddy comes."_

" _[Until Father comes…]" she started to sniffle again. But now the unknown turtle started to fade away. "[Hey, don't leave me.]"_

" _I'll always be here kid," he said before completely dissolving into the fog. Erna was almost going to shout again but then something suddenly appeared beside her. Strong green arms scooped her up and the girl found herself in her father's embrace._

" _[Oh god Erna, thank goodness I found you,]" he whispered and hugged his little girl tight. Erna began crying again but this time in joy of being with her father again._

" _[Daddy,]" she whispered and wrapped her arms around his neck. "[Daddy, I was lost.]"_

" _[It's ok Erna, its ok. I'm here,]" Donatello started to sooth his crying child. He kissed her on the crown and sat down, feeling extremely relieved to have finally found her._

* * *

"[You ok sweetheart?]" Don asked when seeing a single tear crawl down his daughter's cheek. She smiled and dried it off with the back of her hand.

"[Yes father, I'm fine. I just… just wish I could have met him,]" Erna whispered.

Donatello smiled; he took the photo gently from her and put it on the nightstand. Then he scooted a bit closer and embraced his daughter. The girl hugged him back and found herself fighting back the tears.

"[He would have loved you. You can be just as stubborn as he used to be,]" the turtle whispered and gently patted her on the back.

Erna smiled weakly and nodded. But she was still sick and weak; the girl soon found herself drifting back to sleep. When Don noticed that he smiled warmly and gently lowered his daughter back to the bed. He tucked her in and stood up, then picked up the tray but let the photo stay on the nightstand.

The turtle left the bedroom and carefully closed the door. He took the tray to the kitchen. The sound of the shower indicated that either Mikey was still in it or Leo was having his turn. Casey was no doubt in the living room or in the guest room.

Don casually walked out of the kitchen and could see that the door to his study was open. The turtle could hear somebody in there. He frowned and walked closer and peeked inside. It was Mikey, he was at the desk and staring at something. The purple clad one noticed the black box was open. The orange masked turtle then suddenly sniffled.

"Mikey?" Donatello addressed him. Mike almost jumped and turned slightly. The tears were still fresh in his eyes.

"I'm sorry… I saw everything open… and I wanted to put it away," he stammered and gestured to the box. His brother just raised his hands.

"Hey Mikey, its ok," he said and walked closer. His younger brother was now staring down; there was a piece of paper in his hand.

"I was going to close the box, but then I saw this." Michelangelo lifted up the paper but didn't look up. Don was now right beside him and took the note.

It wasn't a note, or at least was not meant to be. It was supposed to be a card, a get well card. On it were drawings and in colorful letters stood 'Get well soon Donny'. Donatello smiled when seeing it.

"Y-you kept it." Mikey looked at his purple masked brother. He was smiling but the tears were still in his eyes. "You actually… kept it."

"Of course I kept it," Don said and put one arm around his shoulders. "You gave it to me when my leg was broken and I couldn't do much but lay in bed."

"Yeah but… it was back when we were ten or something." Mike took the card back and stared at it. "I can't believe you kept it for so long."

"Of course I did Mikey," Don said and turned both himself and his brother to the desk. "Don't you remember how it cheered me up? I was so down because I couldn't do much."

"Yeah I remember," the orange masked one said and returned the card to the box; he continued to stare at its content.

"I… I never figured you had so many pictures of us," the smaller turtle whispered. Don just nodded in answer.

"What will we do now?" Mike looked at his brother. "I mean, you will still live here."

"I will," Donatello agreed. The two brothers sighed; the purple masked one then reached for the box with his free hand and closed it.

"Hey, the shower is available," Leo peeked inside. Don let go of Mike's shoulder and turned around nodding.

"I'll start making breakfast," Mikey said and started to walk out of the study after his brother. Leonardo was already on his way to the living room.

* * *

"Hope you aren't feeling too out of place," Leo said as he walked past Casey, the man was sitting in the recliner trying to watch the TV. Unfortunately the current program was on Icelandic.

"Not at all, wish though this storm would quiet down soon," Casey said continued to stare rather blankly at the TV. The turtle shook his head smiling and grabbed his backpack. From it he produced a new blue mask that he promptly wrapped around his head.

"Well tomorrow at least or so Don says," Leonardo took a casual glance at the TV set, soon though his interest was piqued a little. It seemed to be a judo match going on.

"Wow, that was a great hane goshi," the turtle muttered.

"Uh wha?" Casey looked at the blue masked ninja utterly confused.

"Hm? What?" Leo glanced back at the man and realized his confusion. "Sorry, the move the man with the brown belt did. It was hane goshi. It's a spring hip throw in Judo."

"I thought you guys did ninjitsu," the man frowned even more confused than before.

"We do, that doesn't mean we don't familiarize us a bit with other martial arts. Judo is very well known as is Karate; it's good to know about the techniques in it in order to have defenses against them," the turtle explained to him and the turned back to the TV. "Heh the brown belt won. No surprise, his moves were much more focused than his opponents."

"Um yeah," the man agreed. That match was apparently the end of this program as credits started to roll over the screen.

"So Leo, how are things going between you guys," Casey asked once it was apparent that nothing would start soon on the TV.

"Well, it's coming along," Leonardo said as he sat down. "He seems to have fully accepted us again. He and Mikey are slowly catching up again on the lost time. There are still some minor things left though. I'm still a little worried; it might not take much for everything to collapse."

"You know, his kid doesn't even know your story, she doesn't know how you guys came to be or anythin'," the man told the turtle who nodded.

"Yeah I figured that," Leo sighed. "Guess he only told her that he was mutant turtle but not how he was a mutant turtle."

"I told her a little bit how I met you guys, but she got a little confused since I did start in the middle of the story," Casey said and shrugged. Leo was silent and staring absently at the TV. There was music going on and a large clock on a blue background had appeared instead of the program listing.

"I'll let Don decide whether he tells her or not, it's not mine to tell her. Though I do not doubt she will be hearing it soon. This old couple they know, they are coming over once the storm subsides," the turtle mentioned and stood up.

"But how about April, she'll have to book a flight soon," his friend reminded him.

"I'll talk with Don," Leo said and started to walk towards the doorway. "Mikey was cooking breakfast, unless you want Erna's soup."

"Uh, no thanks," Casey chuckled and rose up from the seat and followed the turtle out.

On their way towards the kitchen, they met up with Donatello who had just finished his shower. Leonardo took one look at his brother and decided it was best just to do it now.

"Don, could I talk with you for a moment?" he asked, his brother shrugged and they disappeared into the living room.

"So what is it?" the formerly purple masked turtle wondered as they both got seated on the couch.

"Don, when we first decided to come, Mikey and I went first to kind of see if the 'coast was clear'," Leo began and cringed a little bit but Don showed no change of expression, simply nodded.

"Casey only came now because we needed somebody to drive us over here, since it was middle of winter and it's far away from the city," the blue masked ninja continued and took a deep breath.

"We kind of planned on telling April at one point when she could come," the sentence was said very carefully.

"Uh huh," his brother responded giving Leo a slight hope that this wasn't as sensitive issue and he had feared.

"She can have two weeks extra vacation, we kind of thought that she might be able to come during Christmas," he finished.

"Right," Don said and then sighed. He leaned a bit forward and clasped his hands together. After a moment the turtle looked again at his brother, he was still expressionless.

He had actually figured that April would come along as well. Had waited and wondered when Leo, Mikey or Casey would bring that up. Donatello was in fact a bit surprised that she hadn't been the one who drove them to his place.

"I was having troubles bringing that up… well because of your reaction to the phone call yesterday," Leonardo said when his brother still hadn't uttered a word. "And then there was of course how you reacted to Erna being sick."

"Yeah… I know," Don whispered and looked down. "I just… I well…"

"I know how you feel for her," the blue clad turtle claimed in a low voice. His brother glanced at him with wide open eyes. Leo just smiled at his surprise.

"You honestly don't think we hadn't noticed? How you used to glance her way with those longing eyes, those sighs you let out sometimes if somebody mentioned her. You were the last to congratulate her and Casey when they got engaged, in fact you restrained yourself from gritting your teeth," the older turtle counted up. "We're not blind, but knew that since you didn't bring it up there was no way for us to approach you about it. Then you seemed to simply get over it."

"Yeah, I just… well realized I couldn't live in a fantasy world forever," Don muttered and shook his head. He sat up straight in the couch with arms folded. "I thought I was over it, but there still remains something… and hearing her just reminded me of it."

"But you area already facing it and taking it better than expected, I mean Casey is here after all," Leo mentioned, his brother nodded in agreement.

There was now silence in between them. The blue clad one occasionally did glance at his brother wondering what he was thinking. The other turtle did indeed look deep in thought but so far didn't say anything.

"April needs to know soon when she can come so she can book a flight," Leonardo then said. Again the only answer he got was a nod.

"How much have you told Erna about your origin," he decided to change the subject since his brother was so talkative about the other one.

"Nothing much, just that I was mutated long ago in New York," he answered shrugging. "And I also confirmed to her that I had brothers."

"Do you plan on telling her the whole story?" Leo wondered and was relieved to see Don nod.

"When Björn and Jónína come over, then they will hear the whole tale," the younger turtle said. "And you guys will hear more about me and how I started my life here."

"Um, do they speak English, well I recall you saying the man does but what about his wife?" the blue masked ninja asked.

"Björn speaks it fluently enough, but Jónína not as much, I guess I'll have to translate for her," Donatello said. Again a silence fell between them.

"Hey guys, breakfast is ready," Mikey announced as he poked his head through the doorway. Both turtles nodded and stood up from the couch.

Donatello took a glance at the clock on the TV that was still running. He noted that it was still early, too early to make any calls just yet. The turtle continued out of the living room and joined his brothers and Casey in the kitchen for much needed breakfast.

* * *

 **New York**

April opened the door to the apartment, grumbling a bit and speaking unkind words about her boss. It had been a lousy day and now she just wanted to slump down in the couch and do nothing.

She knew better though, the woman would eventually have to stand up again and cook herself some dinner. Although once her bag and coat were hung up on the clothes rack, her mind was furthest away from food. It had drifted to her unique friends and her husband who were now in another country.

The reporter was still a bit worried even though Leonardo had said everything was pretty much fine. Don had eventually accepted them and still hadn't removed their head, yet who knew if the turtle was still not just straining to be civil to his family.

The woman remembered how 'well' the phone call had gone yesterday and sighed while sitting down. She had kind of hoped that since it was Don who answered that she could speak with him. But the turtle had almost bolted right away and handed the phone to Leonardo. Things were definitely difficult.

Don's daughter was sick, they were still working on mending the wounds and to top it all they were stuck in a snow storm. April could only wonder how the tension was there. Leo had better not been saying things were going well just to make her rest easy.

She almost reached for the phone intending to call, but decided against it. If any process was made they would call. There was no use calling every day and demand status report.

April rose up from the couch and decided to take a short bath, figuring her body desperately needed it after this long workday. She went into the bedroom and changed into her bathrobe. The woman walked into the bathroom and started to prepare water in the tub.

She was about to drop the robe and step into the bathtub when the phone rang in the living room. The woman cursed loudly and stalked out of the bathroom.

"April O'Neil," April answered the phone and somehow managed to hold back her frustration and not growl about a bad timing.

"April?" a familiar voice spoke through the handset. The woman's eyebrows rose skywards, she wasn't exactly expecting it to be him that would call.

"Donatello?" she said and sat down in the couch. "Is that you?"

"Yeah it's me," Donatello said with a chuckle. "Um so, they say you are coming around Christmas. Do you have a set date so you can be picked up?"

"Uh, no not yet," April admitted.

"Better have one soon, to avoid the Holliday traffic," the turtle on the other line said.

"I'll try and book a flight tonight," the woman responded and then finally got over the shock and smiled. "So Don… how are you doing?"

 **End chapter 13**

* * *

 **A/N:** I don't know about others, but I have always figured that the turtles at least familiarised themselves with other martial arts just to at least be prepared to be able to defend against them. In case they meet that kind of an opponent.

What I have read, there are sometimes so many differences that you can't always use one martial arts form against another. However, I don't know, I'm not really an expert, that just what I have read.

I figured Leo would be the one knowing all about the different forms from other martial arts.

I don't know a thing or two about Judo, I had to look up that move Leo mentions. But it is still very popular martial arts in Iceland, more popular than karate and stuff so I knew it would be something shown on the TV. It's probably because it's very similar to wrestling, and we Icelanders have our very own version of wrestling and we dare to call it our national sport


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 14/06 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

Mikey woke up and yawned, it was still dark but the turtle was already very well aware that it wouldn't get brighter anytime soon. He rose up on the mattress and tiredly rubbed the back of his neck. He was surprised to see that Leo was still sleeping; the ninja looked up but couldn't see what the clock said.

Slowly and carefully the turtle stood up and tiptoed towards it. Peering at the clock Mike was surprised to learn it was only four in the morning. Leo wouldn't wake up until after at least an hour. Shrugging the younger ninja decided he might as well head for the bathroom first he was up and about.

On his way he noticed there was light in the kitchen. Michelangelo finished first his business before returning to the hallway. Instead of going back to the living room he went to where the light was. Opening the door he was surprised to see Don sitting at the kitchen table.

"Good morning," his brother greeted him and drank from a mug. Mike couldn't but grin and walked inside.

"Morning," he said and sat down in front of the turtle. "You are up early."

"Actually… haven't gone to bed yet," Donatello admitted. His younger brother raised an eye ridge in slight surprise.

"Really? Why not?" he asked.

"Shh, listen," Don said instead of answering. Mike tilted his head staring at his brother confused but then did what he was told.

"I don't hear anything," the turtle admitted. Donatello smiled and nodded.

"Exactly, the storm has passed, if we are lucky they'll even clear the road early," he said. "But we have to clear our own driveway I'm afraid."

"Ooh that sounds fun," Mike eyed the window warily, not looking forward to having to shovel tons of snow. He heard Don chuckle, obviously catching what his little brother meant.

"You can stay inside and keep Erna company," he offered. "I only have two shovels anyway."

Mikey smiled innocently, trying to pretend he had no idea what his brother was talking about. The other turtle saw right through him and shook his head smiling.

"So why haven't you gone to bed?" Mike asked to change the subject. Don took a deep breath and then let it out slowly.

"Just had a lot on my mind…" he whispered and halted for a moment. "You see Mikey… I… I almost came back, lot earlier."

"Huh? What do you mean?" his brother asked confused.

"It was shortly after Erna's fifth birthday. I really did consider sneaking aboard a ship, take Erna with me and go back," Donatello admitted, his smile was sad.

"Why didn't you?" Mike asked though he knew the answer was obvious.

"Too scared," Don sighed heavily now. "I wouldn't have just dropped in. I considered calling April and have her arrange the reunion. You would have met Erna and me in the old farmhouse. But no, when it came to it I was just too scared."

Mikey nodded in understanding. He realized now how hard things had been for this brother. It was not surprising that he had been just too scared to do it. The turtle reached over the table and put his hand gently on Don's arm.

"It's ok," he said with a small smile. His brother nodded and placed his own hand over Mike's.

"Thanks for coming. I probably would never have faced it otherwise," he said.

"You two awake?" Leo asked as he suddenly was in the kitchen doorway. He looked to be newly risen from the bed, or mattress in this case.

"Yeah," Mikey said as he sat upright in the chair. Don admitted again that he hadn't gone to bed yet.

"Maybe you should go and try catch some sleep," Leonardo mentioned once hearing that and frowned slightly.

"Yeah I probably should," Don nodded and rose up from the seat. The two turtles watched him leave the kitchen; Leo walked in and sat by the table.

"The storm seems to be over," the older turtle mentioned, having noticed that there was no wind noise.

"Yeah, Don said they might even clear the road early," Mikey explained. "We have to dig the driveway ourselves though."

"That sounds good, great workout," Leo said with a nod. "And we have been forced to stay inside for few days now."

"Don said I was supposed to stay inside and keep Erna company," Mikey quickly mentioned with a broad grin. His brother shook his head smiling. Leave it to this turtle to get himself out of difficult jobs.

* * *

"Man, how much snow can one country get," Casey complained as he shoveled his way through the snow. Leo halted for a moment in his work and looked over their handiwork. So far they had managed to clear the steps and the doors and were slowly clearing the driveway.

"Well it was a snowstorm," the blue masked turtle muttered and continued to shovel. They had been at this for an hour now. Casey had insisted on helping, not wanting to be complete deadweight in this trip. Don was allowed to sleep in, Leo had heard from Mikey what had been keeping him up. Thus the turtle decided his brother deserved the rest.

"It still dark though," Casey grunted. "Couldn't we have waited until a little more light?"

"I didn't hear you complain earlier," Leonardo pointed out. They were getting enough light from the lamp on the house. And in the distance they could see the sun slowly making its way up.

Leo was already by the rented car and was clearing the snow around it. Casey was trying to make his way towards the main road. In the distance they could hear a slow rumble, looking up they saw in what looked like car lights. As it approached, it became clear it was a snowplow.

"Hey they are clearing the road already," the turtle pointed out. They watched the plow slowly make its way past the house from the slight distance.

"Well that's good," Casey nodded. But suddenly the snowplow stopped and began driving in reverse. They were surprised to see it suddenly turn into the byway that led towards Donatello's house.

"Whoa, they are clearing the byway too?" the human remarked. Both he and Leo immediately scurried back to the house so they wouldn't be in the way. The plow continued to approach, the guy behind the wheels honked the horn and could be seen waving them. Not wanting to be rude Casey and Leo waved as well. The snowplow cleared the byway and part of the driveway as well. Then the driver turned the vehicle and returned back to the road.

Leonardo looked at Casey then back to the driveway. Their work had been cut short by several hours at least. Now they only had to clear around the car and they were done. Shrugging the two approached the van and began shoveling around it.

* * *

"Turn left," Erna instructed.

"You sure?" Mikey asked, his brow was sunken low in a heavy concentration.

"Yes, if you go right you will come to dead end," the girl told him. "You want to go left."

"But what if right is a short cut?" the orange clad turtle questioned and looked at his niece, but the girl shook her head. She was still in bed but was feeling good enough to sit upright. On the nightstand was a tray with an empty bowl with remains of soup in the bottom and a glass of water.

"Trust me, I went right and there came this giant monster and ate me," she said.

"I can't fight the monster?" the turtle asked in dismay.

"No, it's there to show you went the wrong way," she explained to him.

"Man, who would have thought this game was so complicated," Mikey muttered and turned his player on the computer screen left.

Michelangelo had taken his duty of keeping Erna entertained very seriously. First he had brought her the breakfast. Then began telling her various stories that the girl suspected not being completely true, or at least her uncle was exaggerating. Many of these stories involved the orange masked turtle and his various pranks on his brothers, back in their younger days.

But he was soon dry of tales and asked finally if they could watch movies on the computer. But Erna told her she didn't have a DVD drive on this machine, but her father did on his computer that was in his room. The girl said she preferred anyway to watch things on the television with the DVD player.

Mikey asked if they could play a computer game on it, the girl told him yes and the turtle had thus immediately turned it on. At first he was going to select a game from the CD case but then an icon on the screen had caught his attention. A simple game called 'Chips challenge'. Curiously he had clicked on it and begun the game, with Erna back seat gaming from the bed.

"Ok, the final chip, whoo, now to get to the gate," the turtle muttered and furiously began moving the player. The game, as simple as it was, had turned out to be strangely addicting.

"No, not the right uncle," Erna warned but too late. Mikey turned the player right and sure enough, a green monster appeared out of nowhere and ate him.

"NOOO!" the turtle shouted dramatically and held his head. The girl shook her head with a grin.

"Told you not to go to the right there," she said and chuckled. Mike sighed and turned off the game.

"I think I'll go blow up stuff to make me feel better," he muttered and selected a game from the case that he was familiar with. Then the turtle frowned and inspected the CDs there.

"Gee, you have a lot of violent games here," he said and looked at Erna who put up an innocent face.

"Really?" Erna inquired as if she had no idea what the turtle was talking about.

"Yeah and Don approves of this?" Mikey asked but was grinning wide. The teenager chuckled.

"Oh he would be a hypocrite if he didn't approve," she said. "If my games go missing I can usually find them in his room, in his computer."

"Ooooh," the orange masked turtle grin changed into a very mischievous one.

"Though he prefers playing the more strategic ones and the adventure games, were you have to think a lot and be observant and things like that," the girl explained with a shrug.

"That sounds like Donny." Mike nodded and promptly placed the CD in the drive and started the game. He hadn't been playing very long when the bedroom door opened and Donatello peeked in.

"Oh ok, so you two are here," he said nodding. Then looked at Erna and smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," his daughter answered smiling back.

"Just don't overdo yourself, you don't want to suffer relapse," Don warned and then looked at Mikey. "Where are Leo and Casey?"

"Out shoveling, Leo decided to let you sleep in," his brother responded not taking his eyes of the game. Don nodded and closed the door as he left.

Erna yawned and lay back down in the bed for a moment. She could hear occasionally the frustrated grunt from her uncle; he was deeply involved in the game right now. The girl smiled and shook her head, chuckled when Mike swore as an enemy hit him. A glance at her alarm clock indicated it was approaching midday. With the storm down, her father was no doubt going to call Björn and Jónína and have the come over. Like he said he would.

* * *

"You finished already?" Donatello stood in the doorway of the front door. The steps, the whole driveway and the whole byway as well were clear. Approaching now were heavily clothed Casey and Leo.

"Well the snowplow came and took the road," Leo explained as he walked up the steps.

"So all we had to do really was the steps and part of the driveway," Casey added.

"He did? Wow, Björn must have complained enough for them to finally listen." Don shrugged and stepped back in so he wouldn't be in the way.

"What do you mean?" his brother asked while stomping off the snow from the boots.

"Well technically speaking the community is supposed to clear the byways that lead to the farms, but they don't always do that," Don explained. "So we usually don't expect it to happen. Björn and few others have begun complaining about it lately. Guess it finally got through."

"Lucky for us." Casey smirked as he took off the coat while stepping inside. Leonardo followed him soon after, they had put the shovels beside the doorway. Don saw no reason to take them in right away in so he closed the door.

"Well with the storm out of the way, I guess I can call the old folk and tell them they can come over, meet the family," Donatello said and walked back into the hallway.

"Guess you can," Leo murmured while following his brother. Looking at the glowing light bulb in the ceiling he was reminded of something.

"Uh Don, what about the power, I mean the power generator won't run forever will it?" he asked. The other turtle glanced up and shrugged.

"The power is back on, the power generator turned itself off hours ago," he said and continued his heading towards the living room.

Leonardo nodded and eyed towards Erna's room. He could hear Mikey's voice there, walking to it he knocked and opened the door. The blue masked turtle saw his brother sitting by the computer in a computer game, but Erna had fallen back to sleep.

"Um Mikey," Leo addressed the orange masked one in a whisper. Mike turned and then looked towards the bed when his sibling gestured to it. His brow rose and quickly he began turning off the game.

"I didn't even notice," the turtle whispered while he was turning off the computer. Mikey stood up and walked to the doorway. Leo stepped aside to let his brother out and then closed the door.

"I'm sure she will be challenging you to a match before you know it," the other turtle said with a smile and patted his brother on the shoulder. Casey appeared in the hallway having just left the bathroom.

"Hey, since the snow is cleared and all, shouldn't we go shopping or somethin'?" the man asked the two ninjas.

"Um, ask Don," Leo told him and gestured to the living room. They could hear Donatello's voice coming from it, speaking in Icelandic.

Casey nodded and opened the living room door. He saw the house owner sitting on the chair by the phone and was speaking in it. The turtle was nodding occasionally and answering the voice on the other line. The man could hear it was a male voice and a bit old. He had to wait for few minutes before Don finally finished and hung up.

"I was thinkin', since we have a clear road. Shouldn't we go shoppin' for groceries or somethin'?" the human asked once he had his friend's attention.

"Well, usually it's Erna or the old folk who do it. Or I order through the Internet and they pick it up for me," Don told him, he stroke his chin thoughtfully.

"If you want to though, I can write down what we currently need and you can go," the turtle said and stood up.

"Yeah do that, I need to go out anyway," Casey said and walked out of the living room followed by Donatello. They both went into the kitchen were Leonardo and Michelangelo already were seated.

Don rescued a notepad and a pen from the top of the refrigerator. Then he began going around to see what they needed currently. The human in the meanwhile sat down with the others.

"Björn and Jónína will come after midday," Don mentioned while rummaging through the fridge. His brothers and Casey nodded in response.

"Ok, this should be enough," the turtle muttered finally and closed the refrigerator. He gave the human the note.

"I can come with you and show you were the local store is," Donatello then offered.

"Yeah, that would probably be best," Casey said and rose up from the seat. They disappeared out of the kitchen, leaving Mikey and Leo behind.

"You think they two will be ok alone?" the orange masked turtle asked worriedly.

"He hasn't snapped at him so far," Leonardo muttered.

* * *

There was silence in the car as it drove after the still slightly snowy road. So far all Casey had gotten from heavily clothed Don were instructions on where to go. The man had taken a casual glance around, but there wasn't much to see except for snow. He thought everything was white before, but it was really nothing compared to now after the storm.

"When it snows here, it snows," the man commented with a nod. He glanced at the turtle that shrugged in response.

"It can be worse," Donatello said. "I read about two avalanches that fell during the same year but different month, one in January the other in October. Pretty much destroyed one village and damaged another one pretty badly, over twenty people were killed."

"Man that's too bad," Casey cringed slightly. Donatello nodded in agreement.

"It might be cold to say that it doesn't sound much, but for a small nation as this one is, that was a disaster. They relocated the village that was destroyed, but the other one remained put but they strengthened their defense wall against avalanches," the turtle explained. "It was during a snowstorm that both avalanches fell, making rescue efforts extremely difficult."

"There aren't any risks of avalanches here is it?" the human asked glancing at the few mountains that could be seen.

"Not near any civilization as far as I know, then again there is always a risk," Donatello told him.

Casey Jones nodded satisfied as he could be with that explanation. The man took another look at the heavily clothed figure in the passenger seat. He had never admitted out loud but he had kind of understood how Donatello had felt. He himself had sometimes felt like just leaving when facing just too much. Casey with Raphael were the only ones still convinced that Don was still alive, although the human was more ready to accept it that Don was maybe dead. Once he had even told the red clad turtle. "Ah, I'm sure he'll turn up again. He probably just needs some time alone. Clear his mind."

That was roughly ten years ago, few weeks later Raphael had been killed in action. Casey had lost a good friend then. He was hoping he was regaining another one. Even though the two, the man and Donatello were as different as black and white, they had one thing in common. Both loved meddling with engines, car or motorcycles didn't matter. Due to that Casey actually dared saying that with Raphael, Donatello was one of his better friends. The man chuckled when remembering the time he and the purple clad turtle had fixed that old pickup at the farm. That same work-shed the pickup was in had then turned into a regular auto-shop for the three, Casey, Raph and Don. Whenever either April or Casey himself needed their cars fixed.

"What's so funny?" Don turned his head to look at the human who had chuckled.

"Oh nothing," Casey said and shrugged. "Just recalled the old pickup we got going."

"Really?" Don raised an eye-ridge. It wasn't so long ago the turtle had in fact been thinking about that damn truck. It was before Erna went to New York on the trip.

"Yeah and you almost flattened me," the human said with a grin. Donatello chuckled in turn.

"Oh come on, I was fifteen. I never drove a car before," the turtle defended himself. "Let alone left the city."

"Yeah I realized then that I was allowing a five foot tall adolescent mutant turtle drive, not my brightest of ideas," Casey said teasingly.

"When have you ever had a bright idea?" Don asked with a smirk.

Casey raised one hand and was going to say 'I married April', but he immediately closed his mouth. He had like Don's brothers, been aware of the turtle's crush on the woman. Knew he hadn't actually quite liked it when the Casey and April had become engaged. Now that things were still on sensitive ground, even the man realized that this could just ruin all the healing process so far.

"Um I decided to help you guys when the Foot invaded April's old building," he offered instead. Don nodded, he had to admit that the unexpected aid from the human back then had been very welcome.

"Yeah ok, I'll give you that one" the turtle agreed. Casey grinned; he could definitely spot the slight jabbing from his friend.

"You edging for a fight?" he asked and then added. "Airhead."

"You must be confusing me with Raphael," Don didn't take offense to the name-calling as he realized that the human was doing. Thus he shot right back. "[[Baka.]]"

"Ow, in a foreign language even. You are fighting dirty now," Casey grunted having just been called idiot in Japanese. "Calk brain."

"Calk brain? You have to do better than that," Don shook his head in dismay. "Doofus."

"I can hear you still read the dictionary before bed," Casey muttered as he raked his brain for a proper response. "Elk."

"Doofus isn't in the dictionary, it's a slang and how's being an Elk insulting?" Don asked with a smile. "Fugly."

"Now I know you're fighting dirty and you are going down," The man said laughing now. "Geezer."

"At least I don't have a beer belly," the turtle shot himself trying not to laugh too much. "Headcase."

"Hey the more of me to love," Casey defended himself. "Ignoramus."

"Whoa, big word from you," Don pretended to sound impressed. "Jarhead."

"Hey, I use the dictionary occasionally," the human said. "Knucklehead."

"What once a year?" Donatello wondered with a chuckle. "Loony Toon."

"Don't make me come over there and smack you," the man warned but still smiled. "Mega mouth."

"My mouth is not that big," Don muttered but was grinning a beak-straining grin. "Numbskull."

"Damn, I think you are winning this one," Casey Jones muttered, he noticed they were approaching the town. "Onion breath."

"Hey no dissing onions," the turtle said. "Punk."

"Well I still remember that onion pizza you had Mikey make. You couldn't see the pizza bottom," the human smirked. "Ah… okay you win, can't think of a Q right now."

"But man, I missed jabbing at you, Donny," he then added and glanced at Don.

"Yeah," Donatello agreed. "I missed you too, Casey."

"Well, let's get shopping, where did you say that store was?" the man said and looked around as he drove into town.

 **End chapter 14**

* * *

 **A/N:** As this fic is set in the movie universe, it is implied that Casey and Don became friends. And I just loved the alphabeth insult game they played in the first movie, I just had to splice a homage to it in there.

'Chips challenge' is a really fun but frustrating game. It can also become terribly addicting. Just google for it, it I think it's a freeware by now, it's old but should work on most machines.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 16/06 2006

 **Chapter 15**

"So got everything?" Leo asked when Don and Casey walked into the kitchen carrying the grocery bags.

"By the looks of it," Don said and nodded, he frowned when seeing Erna by the kitchen table wearing a robe over her pajamas. "And what are you doing up?"

"I was bored in my room," the girl muttered and smiled sheepishly. Mikey put on a very innocent face. Donatello immediately glared at him.

"I hope that wasn't your idea," the older turtle said in a warning tone and put the bags away. Then he walked to his daughter and felt her forehead. It wasn't as warm as yesterday. "Well alright, you can stay up."

"Thanks father," the teenager said. Her father just shook his head and began taking out of the bags. Casey helped but had to be told of course were everything went. Shortly later both joined the others by the kitchen table.

Leo immediately noticed that there was something different. So far if Don had smiled, it was usually a rather sad one. He had only occasionally actually smiled for real and most of the time had a neutral expression. But now he was actually keeping a smile on his beak, a very familiar one. Something the blue masked turtle hadn't seen for over 13 years.

"So Don, does April know when she's coming?" Leonardo decided to ask. Don had called late, at least on the local time for Iceland, so they hadn't gotten the chance to know how the conversation had gone yesterday night.

"No, she was going to call today and let us know," his brother answered. He then looked at Erna. "This will be what, eight guests on Christmas?"

"Looks like it," his daughter agreed.

"Eight?" Mikey's looked at his brother confused.

"Yeah, you three here, April, Björn and Jónína, plus Halldóra and her daughter Katrín. With me and Erna it makes ten," Donatello explained to his brother.

"Unless you are going before Christmas," the teenager added with a shrug. Mikey punched her playfully in the shoulder.

"Hey, you are not getting rid of me so easily." he grinned.

"Of course we will be here for Christmas," Leonardo said and smiled. He hid his relief when Don actually widened his smile, Erna grinned.

 _Well if I didn't know already, I guess it is confirmed now. We are welcome here,_ the blue masked turtle thought.

"So when are Björn and Jónína coming?" Erna looked at her father. Don turned to glance at the clock on the wall.

"Not long, they said they would come roughly after twelve," he said.

The turtle had barely released the word when his cell-phone rang. Quickly he picked it up and answered. The others had to watch as he began talking in Icelandic on it. Only Erna understood.

"It's Björn, they are on their way," she whispered. Don confirmed it shortly afterwards when hanging up.

"Their farm isn't far away from us, they'll be here in less than five minutes," he added. Leo rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little uneasy.

"Um, they know they are about to meet two more giant turtles right?" he asked.

"Yes, I told him. Don't worry, they will not be apprehensive," Donatello told his brother. Erna nodded furiously to agree with her father.

Only few minutes later Donatello stood up and looked out of the window. He spotted the car now driving towards the house and announced the arrival. Leo took a deep breath, bracing himself for this meeting. Only Mikey and Casey looked relaxed, aside from Erna and Don naturally.

Don left the kitchen to greet the newly arrived guests. Mikey stood up and sneaked closer to the window to watch. He saw the car park and behind the wheels was an elderly man with a bushy beard. The turtle couldn't quite make out yet the passenger. But then he saw Don walking down the steps and towards the car.

His brother shook hand with the old man and hugged him briefly. Then hurried over to the other side of the car and opened the door. The turtle helped an older woman with a curly and thick gray hair, out of the car. Mikey could see Don holding a cane while aiding the woman and then handing it to her.

Despite the walking aid, she walked straight and almost proudly. The woman even talked in a rather loud voice. The orange masked turtle could hear her from where he was standing, inside the kitchen. Don hugged the woman as well and then helped her walk towards the steps. The old man was waiting for them there.

"[Well I'm for one glad the storm is over, it was a nasty one this year. Hope nothing bad happened during it, but according to the reports everybody are safe,]" the woman's voice could now be heard very clearly as the three outside walked in.

"[I'm surprised how early they began clearing the roads,]" now the old man's voice said. Don opened the kitchen and the two elder humans walked inside, followed by the turtle.

"Everybody, these are Jónína and Björn," Don introduced them. Mikey, Leo and Casey all waved and greeted them.

"[These are my brothers,]" he turned to the humans and gestured to both Leonardo and Michelangelo and said their names. Then nodded towards Casey Jones. "[This is Casey Jones, he's an old family friend.]"

"[Hello everybody,]" Jónína waved smiling cheerfully. Then she promptly walked to Mikey and pulled him closer in an air-choking hug. Leonardo and Casey also didn't escape being hugged tightly by the woman. "[So nice to see finally Aron's family from America.]"

Erna quickly provided translation for the others, before she was herself choked in a hug from old woman.

"[I see you are feeling better honey,]" Jónína said and sat beside the girl, still hold her arms around her. "[I knew it was just a small bug. Nothing to worry about.]"

"Nice to meet you all," Björn fortunately spoke English and just shook hands with everyone. Mikey was slightly relieved about that, although old, the man did look strong. "Aron has only vaguely mentioned having a family abroad, so it's nice to finally see you."

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you as well," Leonardo said in turn.

After the introductions were over, the old folk, Don and Mikey got seated. It was explained to Björn and Jónína what had been happening for the past few days. From the day his brothers and Casey had arrived before the storm.

"[I was always a little worried about you, Aron, you did sometimes look a little depressed. Well I'm glad your family is here to help you out,]" the old woman said after it was finished, she reached over to Don and patted him on the hand. The turtle just smiled and nodded.

He stood up and began bringing refreshment to the table. Leonardo rose to help him and after that was done they both got seated once more. Don figured that this was high time to tell the Icelandic humans about his origins and everything related to his arrival 13 years ago.

"[I know I have never dwelled much on my past, only given vague hints. But that is because it was too painful to talk about it. It is still a little painful, but this pain can only be healed by facing the past,]" he told them. Erna was in the role of translator for those who didn't speak Icelandic.

Thus Donatello began telling his daughter and the old folk the origin tale of his and his brothers. Told when Splinter found them, how he had raised them and taught his adoptive sons ninjitsu among other things. Explained how the turtles had first met April and Casey and the related events to that encounter.

He explained his brother Raphael a bit more. Told when they had found their new lair in the abandoned subway station. Don halted and hesitated only once in the tale. When he reached the point when Splinter had become sick, how he had failed to find a cure in time for his ailing father. The depression and self-guilt that eventually led to him running away, taking the first ship out of the country.

"[I met Björn then about month later and you know the rest,]" he told them. Björn had listened with a calm expression and nodded once the story was done. Jónína looked a bit surprised at first but then she smiled wide.

"[I knew it, I knew they are here for a reason,]" she said looking first at her husband and then back at Donatello. "I knew you were here to help protect people."

Don just nodded not even trying to dispute that, even though he didn't quite agree with it. Björn was much more earth bound regarding this, mentioned in English that he would be lying if he said he was terribly surprised. It was a stunning story but still, it didn't contain too surprising elements. Especially if he considered that he was talking with giant mutated turtles.

"[And now you know too, Erna. I used to be a pet,]" Don addressed his daughter. She smiled back at him.

"[Just makes you even that more special,]" she responded.

"[True,]" Jónína agreed. The turtle shrugged knowing they were probably right.

"Well," Don said switching to English. Now Erna would provide translation for Jónína, but Björn could still follow.

"They have heard our story now up to the point when I arrive in Iceland. But now I think I will give you few more details, like how I found Erna and wound up living here," he told his brothers and Casey.

* * *

 _He wasn't sure what on earth he was doing here. Donatello looked around in the smelly old shed he was using temporarily as a hiding place. He had arrived two days ago in this country and unfortunately thanks to the bright nights, he couldn't really sneak around too much._

 _There weren't many decent hiding places; so far he was still near the harbor in some sort of a warehouse district. Or so he figured, but the smell of fish was much heavier than he was used too._

 _He sat up in his makeshift bed and scratched his head. The turtle would have to go out and find some food soon. He was running out. Slowly the ninja sneaked to the door and glanced outside, it was dark but not dark enough. But he would have to risk it._

 _So he put on his coat, cursing himself for losing the hat, then went outside. Don didn't go too far. He went were he knew a local shop was, the garbage bin had so far provided him well enough. Though the turtle had to admit he was hungry for a real meal._

 _Donatello approached the place and hid behind a recycle dumpster. He spotted a movement by the bin he frequented. Cursing softly the turtle waited, it was somebody small. The turtle frowned; it was too small to be an adult human._

 _The turtle peered forward and was surprised to learn it was a child. A little girl who slowly tried to open the bin and peek inside of it, she was wearing rather worn dirty clothes._

' _Were are the parents?' Don thought with a frown. He watched the girl and realized she had to be famished, the child moved so slowly and weakly. Why didn't she go and alert herself to adults?_

 _There was no human around except for the child. Donatello cringed; the girl would surely die if nobody helped her. He took decision the moment he saw her fall and didn't get up. Quickly the turtle sneaked closer and at first inspected the small form. She was very thin and showed signs of dehydration. She was still breathing though, so he scooped her up and hurried away._

 _He took her back to his hiding place, carefully cradling her in one arm while rummaging through his backpack. Don found his water bottle and using it he gave the girl a bit of moisture on the lips. That sparked some life in her and she greedily licked the water. Slowly she opened her eyes. Either it was too dark for her to see or at the moment didn't care, the child didn't react much to being hold by a giant turtle. Instead she reached weakly for the bottle; Don carefully helped her drink from it._

" _How old are you?" he asked even though she probably wouldn't understand his English. That prompted the girl to look up at his face; she just stared at him with those wide almost sad eyes._

" _Where are your mommy and daddy?" Don asked softly and gave her another sip of water. He got the rest of the food he had left and gave it to her. The girl ate it all greedily._

' _She'll probably freak out once she sees my face more clearly,' he thought but at the moment the turtle didn't care. Finally the girl opened her mouth and said something, but it was in Icelandic and thus Don didn't understand._

 _"My name is Donatello," he said and pointed at himself. "Donatello."_

 _He carefully cradled the girl now with both arms. She didn't seem to resist, either was too weak or she was comfortable enough. She soon dozed off, no doubt exhausted as well. Don sighed and looked around; finally he made her comfortable on his makeshift bed and took the floor himself._

* * *

"You just found her there, rummaging through garbage? No parents or anything?" Leonardo asked surprised. Donatello nodded and then shook his head in dismay.

"She had obviously not been fed for a while and nothing to drink. I don't know why nobody noticed her, I have theorized that she was recently escaped from a bad home. That's almost the only conclusion I can reach. Björn checked for me, there were no reports of missing children at that time. So either the parents died or just didn't care," he explained to them.

"How did she react to your natural looks?" Mikey asked with a grin. Don chuckled and eyed Erna; the girl blushed knowing that something embarrassing was coming up. Something she couldn't remember, but her father did and would enjoy telling about it.

"I woke up the next day, with her poking at me and at one point even manage to put her finger in my nostril," he said with a chuckle. Erna covered her face with her hands and sunk in the chair. Everybody tried to refrain from laughing but it was very difficult.

"She got used to me quickly, maybe because she saw me first when I was sleeping," Donatello continued.

"At first I tried to see if somebody looked to be in search of a kid but it didn't happen. I figured I should drop her somewhere where she could get human help… but I kind of delayed it always. It was probably selfish of me, but every time I was watching her play I found myself laughing." The turtle looked down at his glass. "I guess I didn't want to lose that in the end."

"I tried to take her to a police station, or a hospital but always got cold feet in the end. I finally decided just to try and raise her. Even though at the time the odds were against me," he then said and glanced back up. "I did manage for roughly a month, then we met Björn."

* * *

 _Donatello watched the girl play. So far he had learned that the answered to Erna. That was thus what he called the girl now. So far they had managed to avoid detection but occasionally they had to move, just to be sure._

 _The turtle frowned when he saw the girl was getting close to a shed he knew was in use. He had seen people around it. He carefully made his way closer, calling the girl's name. But she was in a playful mood and apparently wanted him to join. She laughed and waved him._

 _'Crap,' he thought and moved closer. He froze when he saw an older man suddenly approach._

 _"Erna," he whispered but the girl had seen the man and was approaching him._

 _The old man crouched in front of the girl and began speaking with her. Donatello looked around. Nobody else was in sight, he could maybe try snatching the girl and running for it. Then the man seemed to be ready to pick Erna up._

 _"Oh crud, no choice," he muttered. The turtle was not going to lose that girl. So he jumped into view of the man._

 _The old man was quite startled to see suddenly an over five foot tall turtle in front of him. So much that he stood up and actually backed away. He remembered the girl and was about to grab her, but Erna now seeing her adoptive father immediately darted off to him._

 _"It's ok," Don addressed the man, hoping he would understand. "I'm just after my daughter."_

 _"You speak?" the man asked stunned. There was heavy accent in his English._

 _"Yes I speak," the turtle said and picked Erna up, holding her now protectively. "I know my appearance is strange to you, but I mean no harm. I was just after my daughter."_

 _"Your daughter?" the man looked at the child who was obviously not the least afraid, in fact was quite happy in the turtle's arms._

* * *

"I think it took me five more minutes to explain myself to him," Don said with a chuckle and glanced at Björn. The old man nodded.

"I wasn't sure what to think back then, but I think what helped was that Erna was so calm with him and not alarmed the least. That was a good hint that she trusted him," the elder explained.

"I did tell Björn that we lived in hiding due to my appearance. It was about that time that he offered me a place to stay," the turtle continued and shrugged. "If I had been alone I would have refused. But since I had Erna now, I accepted it for her sake."

"[They are now talking about when father and I met you for the first time,]" Erna explained to Jónína.

"[Ah yes, remember that very well,]" the old woman chimed in. "[I knew Björn would never pick up just about anybody and offer home. I knew immediately that Aron had been sent to take care of Erna. She was no doubt rejected from her family so she just got a new one.]"

This all Donatello translated for the others. They just nodded and didn't chuckle or smile. Since it was obvious Jónína took this stance very seriously.

* * *

 _"Just make yourself at home," Björn told the turtle as he showed him the room Don and Erna would be sleeping in._

 _"Thank you," Donatello muttered and carefully put the sleeping child in the bed. He tucked her in before looking around. Björn had left to allow them to settle in._

 _'I had better learn the language soon, wonder if I can get him to teach me,' the turtle thought. He noticed there were few pictures on the wall; this room had once had a previous occupant._

 _Donatello frowned and walked closer to the pictures. They were mostly of a young man; in one he was in a white gown or something holding what looked like a bible. In another one he was all suited up in a tux and with a white hat. Björn returned shortly later while the turtle was still looking at the pictures._

 _"Who is this?" Don asked pointing at the young man on the photos._

 _"Oh, that is our son Aron," the old man told him. Donatello's brow rose._

 _"Where is he now?" the turtle asked, worried that he would have to expose himself to more people. He noticed that there came a sad expression on the old man._

 _"He died two years ago," Björn told him. "The ship he worked in sank, there was a storm and the boat went below. There were no survivors."_

 _"I'm sorry," Don said and sighed, he knew himself how it was to lose a loved one._

 _"It's alright, we live," the old man said. "I just wanted to tell you that we'll be cooking dinner soon. If you want you can bathe your daughter before."_

 _"Thank you, I think I will," Don said with a nod._

* * *

"So that's how you picked up that name?" Leonardo asked. Donatello nodded and glanced at Björn again.

"And because he sometimes accidentally addressed me by that name, especially when we were working together," the turtle explained, the old man nodded to confirm it.

"Yes, sometimes I just felt like I was working once more with my son. So I just addressed him as Aron. Jónína began doing it as well," Björn told them.

"When we registered me, they needed an Icelandic name. I got their blessing to use their son's name. In away honoring them for allowing me to stay at their house and help me with Erna," Donatello said. "And few months later Björn handed me this house as it was already his anyway. I fixed it up and here we have lived for 13 years."

"Wow," Mikey said once it was evident the storytelling was pretty much over.

"So much has happened, I guess it would take forever to recount all those years," Leo mentioned with a smile.

"Speaking of which," Don eyed the clock and noticed they had been talking for few hours. "[Will you two stay for dinner?]"

"[Certainly we will,]" Jónína said with sharp nod. Björn nodded as well in agreement.

"Then why don't we move to the living room, more comfortable seats there," Donatello suggested and rose up. Everybody agreed and began standing up as well. He looked at Erna who yawned.

"[Maybe you should go lie down until dinner, you are still sick,]" he told her. His daughter sighed and tried to give her father a pleading look, but he shook his head. Erna thus nodded and went back to her room.

"Mikey, why don't you keep her company," Leo suggested, the orange masked turtle was all for that and followed his niece. The rest went into the living room and got comfortable in there. But before another discussion could rise, the phone rang. Don stood up to answer.

"[Yes hello?]" he greeted the caller but then his brow rose. "Oh hi April."

"Ok you got a date, right. Good, yes Casey will pick up you then, great. See you then," Don hung up and walked back to the others.

"Casey, April got a flight for December 21st, she needs to be picked up then," he told the man. The turtle then explained to the old folk was going on.

"It might be better that Björn goes too, just so April meets one of them already," Donatello then suggested. Casey shrugged and the old man nodded in agreement.

Don was about to sit down again when the phone rang once more. Shaking his head at the timing, the turtle walked back to the device and answered. But this time the turtle didn't switch to English, as the caller was Icelandic.

"[Yes, we are ok. Yeah, it just so happened that my family found me,]" he explained in the phone and sat down in the chair.

"[Yeah, surprisingly. No it won't change the plans, you and Katrín are more than welcome to come. The more the merrier,]" the turtle said. "[We'll have to get a plan for food though soon and start buying it. Yeah, you know I think my brother can help with the cooking. He's a great cook.]"

"[Yeah, two brothers. Technically we're quadrupeds but sometimes we call one of them the older brother because he acts like it,]" Don explained and chuckled a bit. He refrained from mentioning Raphael, he would explain that later.

"[Yeah, we'll look forward to see you two,]" he said and then told goodbye before hanging up. He returned again to the others and this time managed to sit down.

"Halldóra and her daughter Katrín are also very excited to meet you guys," Don told the English speaking part of the group.

"You think Mikey will mind helping with the Christmas cooking?" he asked Leo who smiled and shook his head.

"He will probably insist on helping, if not taking over," the blue masked pointed out.

"That's good, I just pretty much bragged about him in the phone," the other turtle chuckled and so did Leonardo.

"It's good to see you smiling again Don," the blue masked turtle said and patted his brother on the shoulder.

"It's good to be smiling again," Donatello responded.

 **End chapter 15**

* * *

 **A/N:** I did probably take some artistic liberties by having Erna being able to be so young and go unnoticed before someone alerted the authorities about a vagabond little girl in rags. I'm actually not too familiar with the homeless situation in Iceland as it's actually not a subject we like to talk about and is not heavily researched so I have access to very little data.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 18/06 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 16**

 _December 21st_

April was relived to get out of the plane. It had been a rather bumpy ride and the woman was very glad to have land under her feet. She walked after the long corridor from the gate and towards the area for arriving passengers. After going through passport control and picking up her luggage, she had officially arrived in Iceland.

She walked out through a big blue doorway and immediately spotted were Casey stood beside an elderly man. The woman waved and walked towards them, the couple hugged and kissed. Her husband then introduced her to Björn. April was a little surprised to learn about him, but Casey said he would explain in the car.

Björn helped carrying the luggage out with Casey. Everything was stashed in the trunk of the old man's car. The couple then got seated in the back seat while Björn drove.

"So how is everybody holding up?" April asked as the car left the airport.

"Fine so far, I think Don has for the most part gotten over it," Casey answered. He began telling her a bit about that had occurred during his stay here.

"Sounds like everything went fine then after all," April said and smiled, her husband nodded in agreement.

"Better than Leo had dared to hope," he told her. "It was a little tough first. Don did refuse to speak too much, but he cracked in the end and the healin' began."

"How about you, how did he react to you?" the woman asked a little worried.

"Surprisingly well. I was on a slight edge that he would resent me, but he didn't. In fact of the three of us, I think he took me very well, it was mostly Leo who took the heat. I think he didn't allow Mikey and me to get too affected," the man explained.

April felt relief run all over her. She had been a little worried that things hadn't actually been as good as they said. Even though it was Don who had called her and asked her when she would come. A tiny thought had still lingered that it had just been a fluke.

"So I take it everybody will be welcome over Christmas." April smiled. Casey grinned and nodded.

"You got that right," he said and then told her a little bit more about Björn and how Don knew him. The woman was rather impressed, but was even more surprised to learn about Halldóra and Katrín.

Casey had met them when they had come over few days ago. Mostly to plan the upcoming get together during Christmas. There, Halldóra and her daughter got to know both Michelangelo and Leonardo. They were then treated with the turtles' origin story. That had seemed to make the older woman more impressed, she promised again that she and her daughter would keep the secret safe.

"But Casey, do you know what they plan to do later?" April wondered with a frown. Casey scratched his head while thinking.

"You know, I dunno," the man said. "Don isn't going anywhere that's for sure. I think Mikey is just about ready to move in as well. I don't know about Leo though."

"Don is going to stay?" she asked surprised and there was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Trust me honey, he's not going anytime soon back to the sewers," he told her.

"Well it was silly of me to hope like that," April said and shook her head. "Of course things aren't just going to go back like they were, just because we found him finally."

"How long is this drive?" she asked while viewing the snowy landscape.

"We haven't reached the capital yet, that's a forty minute drive or so, and then we have to drive all the way to the farm. This will take roughly one and half hour," Casey explained but then leaned forward to address Björn. "Is that right."

"Almost, might take two hours because of the road, it's slippery on parts," the old man responded. Casey picked up a cell phone and told April that it belong to Don, he had borrowed it.

"I'm just going to call the guys and let them know you have landed," he said and began searching for the number on the phone.

* * *

"[We are on a Christmas break! We are on a Christmas break!]" Katrín chanted as Erna let her into the house.

"[My god, somebody alert the press,]" the other teenager laughed. Her friend just grinned wide while taking off her coat and boots.

"[They are cutting to the breaks closer and closer to Christmas. Before we know it, we won't start Christmas break until on Christmas Eve,]" Katrín complained as she followed her friend to the hallway

"[Don't jinx it girl,]" Erna warned and opened the door to her room and the two girls disappeared inside. Katrín looked around and pretended to be surprised.

"[Well I see your computer is unoccupied,]" she mentioned while sitting down on the bed. Her friend got seated on the computer chair.

"[Yeah, I had Uncle Mike use father's computer now. Of course I had to convince father of the merit of that idea as well,]" Erna explained and rolled her eyes. "[I swear that he loves that computer more than me.]"

"[That's not true,]" Don's voice came from the doorway. The turtle stood there with his arms folded grinning. "[Hello Katrín.]"

"[Hi Donatello,]" Katrín waved him.

"[Well you sure didn't look too happy when I asked if Uncle Mike could use your computer,]" Don's daughter claimed and pretended to pout. Her father just raised an eye ridge.

"[That's because you don't know Mikey as well as I do,]" he said chuckling. "[Just wanted to let you know, we'll be getting more company. Björn is on his way with April and Casey.]"

"[All right,]"" Erna nodded and Donatello left the doorway, closing it on his way.

"[Jeez Erna, you have no idea how lucky you are, your family just going through all this trouble to find you two,]" Katrín sighed wishfully.

"[Aw,]" her friend transferred herself from the chair to the bed. Then she said teasingly. "[You know, there are three eligible bachelors in this house. I'm sure your mother can pick one.]"

"[I think she already has,]" the other girl said looking at Erna, she was looking very unsure.

"[What do you mean?]" Erna asked confused.

"[You haven't noticed? Doesn't she call every day to talk with your Uncle Mike?]" Katrín asked and placed her hands on the hips. Her friend opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again as she thought it over.

"[Well they are handling Christmas dinner, well Uncle Mike did take it over pretty much,]" Erna tried to explain but the other girl wasn't buying it.

"[You know my mom, Erna, she would never allow just anybody to take over something,]" Katrín said. "[And she is starting to make up excuses to drop by here.]"

"[Come on, it's been only few days since you two met my uncles,]" Erna pointed out but knew that was actually a very weak point.

Katrín was right; Halldóra had been calling almost daily asking for Mikey. Then those two would talk for a while, seemingly about the food and what to do. But often if listened to carefully, you could hear that food wasn't all they talked about. Mikey sometimes inquired how Halldóra and her daughter were doing. Sometimes he was even just telling about himself.

Then there were the visits were Mikey and Halldóra would spend a lot of time in the kitchen talking. Everybody had agreed that the dinner would be held in Donatello's house. So the usual excuse was that they were preparing for it. Nobody had so far commented on this, but it was probably just a question of time.

"[What were the chances though of them finding you, I mean considering that your dad is really reclusive and not even in the phone book,]" Katrín mentioned.

"[Eh, that was kind of my fault, or thanks to me,]" Erna said and coughed embarrassingly. She then told her friend about what had happened during their visit in New York. Then when her two uncles had pretty much arrived roughly a week later.

"[Father was not too happy about it first, there were reasons he left. But he has gotten over it now, in fact I think they are preparing to move in,]" the teenager explained.

"[Why do you say that?]" Katrín asked.

"[Just a hunch, father has been up in the attic a lot lately. Hardly getting the Christmas decorations, Uncle Leo and I got that down a week ago. I think he's either going to change it into living space or moving his study there,]" Erna told her.

"[Have you asked them?]" her friend asked.

"[Not yet, I'm kind of hoping they will just announce it,]" Erna shrugged. Both girls looked up when there was a knock on the door. Then it opened and Leonardo looked in.

"Sorry to interrupt you two, but they are arriving," he said.

"Let's go meet her then," Erna said and stood up. Katrín did as well and they followed the turtle out.

Outside the front door, Donatello stood with arms folded. He watched as the car approached the house. Right behind him was Mikey and soon Leo came followed by the two teenagers. Don took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down.

"You ok bro?" Mike asked and put a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Yeah, just a little nervous," the older turtle responded.

The car parked in front of the house. Björn just waved from the driver's seat and Don did as well. He knew the old man wouldn't be coming inside. Casey came out of the passenger seat and on the other side of the vehicle April stepped out. The man went to the trunk, opened it and picked up the woman's luggage.

They both thanked the old man who shortly later drove off. The two humans approached the house now. April halted when seeing the gathering in front of the door. Casey was already climbing the steps but halted when noticing that the woman had stopped. Finally though the woman continued onward.

"Hello April," Don greeted her when she arrived.

"Hello Don," she said in turn. Then the woman stepped closer and wrapped her arms around the turtle in a tight hug. Don as well held his arms around her.

"It's good to see you again," April said when they parted, she was smiling. Finally reunited with an old friend.

"It's good to see you too, April," Donatello responded. His smile was a little more uneasy for a moment, but he relaxed quickly and then gestured to the doorway were Erna stood.

"This is my daughter Erna," he introduced his daughter. April walked to her and held out her hand.

"So you are the one that made this possible," the woman said as the two shook hands. Erna cleared her throat and grinned nervously before nodding. April then pulled her in a hug.

"Thank you for that," the woman said after releasing the a bit surprised girl.

Don ushered everybody inside. Erna got permission to disappear with Katrín back to her room. The rest went into the living room; Casey went first to the guest room to drop the luggage there.

April was finally told what had happened when Leo, Mike and Casey had arrived few weeks ago. Donatello explained to her what had happened, why he had run away and later how he had arrived to this country. How he had found Erna and met with Björn and Jónína.

April was impressed to hear all this, she also understood better now why Don would not want to go back. He had found a new life here and was enjoying it. He was at least allowing his family to come.

"It's so good to see you three together again," April mentioned. She had noticed that the turtles all sat together on the couch, with Don in the middle. The humans sat on the chairs.

"Oh, I'm sure Raphael is here with us too," Leonardo declared.

"You know what Jónína told me?" Don said glancing at his brother.

"No what?" Leo eyed Donatello who chuckled slightly.

"She told me it was no doubt Raphael's doing that you guys came," he told them. "That he probably made sure that you and Erna met there in New York. Thus you got the incentive to come and look for me."

"Well who knows, stranger things have happened," Leo shrugged. _Especially if I take into consideration what Erna says she saw so many years ago._

Mikey was about to say something but then the phone started to ring. Don didn't even have a chance to rise up. His orange masked brother was in a flash out of the couch and answering. The only one staring confused at the youngest turtle was April, the others looked rather unimpressed.

"Yeah hello? Yes hi Halldóra, this is Mikey," Michelangelo answered and sat down in the chair. Don slumped back in the couch and shook his head.

"How long should we let them think we haven't noticed?" Don asked Leo in a low voice.

"Uh, after Christmas," Leonardo shrugged, there was a grin on his beak. April stopped staring surprised at Mikey and turned to the other two turtles.

"Okay, what is going on?" she half demanded to know. Casey was desperately trying to hold down his laughter.

"It started when we decided we had to begin planning the Christmas Dinner," Don said and eyed his brother who happily chatted on the phone. "Halldóra and her daughter Katrín, who you saw with Erna earlier, came over so we could start. Mikey insisted on helping, in fact has pretty much taken over the preparations."

"He and Halldóra began planning everything, what food will be eaten and such. Lately they have been sharing a lot of cooking tips. Among other things," Leo added in.

"Let's just say that we are not buying that part," Donatello mentioned.

"You guys… you guys are kidding me," April's jaw dropped but it formed almost immediately in a smile. The two turtles in the couch shook their heads.

"The boy is in love," Don claimed.

"And the feeling is definitely mutual," Leonardo said and glanced at Mikey who was now playing with the cord as he spoke in the phone.

"She's making the strangest excuses to just drop by, even lingers a little bit when dropping Katrín off," the other turtle explained.

"Jeez, I can't leave you guys alone for few weeks," April said and shook her head smiling wide.

"It's just as well, since we are moving here," Leo said with a shrug.

"So it's all decided?" the woman asked dropping the smile a bit.

"Yes, if Don is going stay here I'm staying with him. I lost two brothers many years ago and have regained one of them again. I don't think I could live separated from my two remaining ones," the blue clad turtle said.

"We'll try visit of course," Don said. "In fact we plan on coming after the New Year's, to take care of the stuff that's in the subway lair."

"Great, just let Casey and me know when you come so we can help," April said.

"Anyway it's probably much easier for us to visit too, I mean the airplane ticket wasn't terribly expensive, compared to most other European tickets," Casey added in.

Suddenly in an orange and green streak Mikey came running and landed on the spot he had previously occupied on the couch. The turtle was grinning very wide as he looked at his two brothers.

"You guys don't need me on the 23rd right?" he said.

"Well we are invited to dinner at Björn and Jónína's house, but if you suddenly have plans then I guess not," Don said and frowned.

"Yeah, um because, Halldóra has invited me to dinner that day," Mike said and was obviously restraining himself from jumping up and down.

"All right, I see no objection to that," Donatello shrugged and looked Leo who agreed.

"How old is this Halldoora?" April asked curiously.

"Same as ours," Don answered.

"So uh, what were we talking about before the phone rang?" Mikey asked curiously.

"Oh we were just telling April that you two were moving in. Then come later and take care of the things in the subway lair," Donatello explained to his brother.

"Oh, ok," Michelangelo nodded and turned to April.

"Don thinks I better get the attic, he was going to anyway make it into a suitable bedroom," he told her.

"Probably will be unnecessary in the not-so distant future," Leo whispered to Don who ginned and nodded.

* * *

"[Ok mom, bye,]" Katrín shook her head and hung up the cell-phone. She glanced at Erna who sat on the chair once more.

"[That was my beloved mother. She was just telling me we would have a dinner guest on Thorlaks,]" the brown haired teen said and shook her head.

"[And that couldn't wait until you came home.]" Erna smirked and turned on the music again, having lowered the volume when the phone rang.

"[Of course not, she announces every little thing she does to me. I think she doesn't want me to feel left out or something,]" Katrín shrugged, she was lying in her friends bed.

"[I think I can guess who the dinner guest is,]" Erna said winking her friend. The other girl rose up a little raising one eyebrow.

"[Don't have to guess, probably your Uncle Mike,]" she said and chuckled. "[You know she keeps talking about him, how funny and sweet he his and obviously very caring. She's walking on clouds.]"

"[If they aren't in love, I do not know what it is,]" her friend claimed and they both laughed.

"[So are you cool with it?]" Erna wondered glancing at the other teen. Katrín frowned a little as she thought it over.

"[Ya know, I just think so. I mean it's not like she would listen to me anyway,]" the girl shrugged and lay back down.

"[Yeah, you hardly listen to her, why should she listen to you?]" Erna teased and got her own pillow sent to her head.

"[I'll have you know that I listen, I just don't always act on it,]" Katrín claimed as she got the pillow back.

"[Hey, remember few weeks back, when we were mulling over your mom and my father hooking up?]" the other girl said grinning wide. Her friend nodded furiously in the bed and chuckled.

"[Heh, it was really funny. Mom got nuts shortly after we came home and started to gather all information possible about turtles. Then she kind of began worrying a lot, especially about traffic around her land. I thinks she really meant it when she said that nobody would be allowed to travel through it,]" Katrín told her.

"[Not very likely to happen though either, we are pretty far off the main traveling road,]" Erna pointed out. "[Father and I have been living her for over just about 13 years and we have seldom seen any people traveling on foot around here.]"

"[Yeah, we are pretty secluded here. Mom liked it; this is why we moved up here. I think apart from your house, Björn and Jónína's there is at least twenty minutes to our next neighbor.]" Katrín agreed and her friend nodded.

"[Nice little community,]" Erna said with a wide grin.

"[Oh, wait did you have three uncles?]" Katrín asked as she noticed a picture on the nightstand. She recognized three of the four turtles on it.

"[Yeah, the one with the red mask is Raphael,]" the other teen explained and sighed sadly. "[He died ten years ago.]"

"[Oh yes sorry, I forgot,]" Katrín cringed a little and put the picture back.

"[It's ok,]" Erna assured her. "[He was the only one who was convinced father was still alive. But he kept quiet about it, allowed his brothers to believe he was dead.]"

"[And he was right all along,]" her friend said. "[So sad he couldn't live to see it.]"

"[Yeah,]" Erna nodded. They looked up when there was a knock on the door. The girl turned down the volume as Mikey peeked into the room.

"Hello," he greeted them with a grin. "Just checking, Katrín are you staying here for dinner?"

"Meh if I'm invited," Katrín shrugged carelessly.

"Of course you are," the turtle said cheerfully. "In fact after dinner, Don is going to start clearing a bit in the attic. You girls wanna help?"

"Oooh, rummaging through attic stuff," Erna beamed.

"We're there," her friend claimed and raised her right hand. Mikey chuckled and left the room, closing the door on his way.

"[Better let dear old mommy know,]" Katrín murmured and grabbed her phone and dialed the number.

"[Yeah mom? It's your rebellious daughter calling,]" she said once there was an answer. "[Oh you have only one daughter? Gee I'm always the last to know.]"

"[Anyway, I was invited to dinner at Erna's house and then I'm going to help with the attic. Yeah I can't miss the chance of spelunking through old stuff,]" Katrín said in the phone and chuckled. She said few yes before glancing at Erna.

"[Is it ok if we just have a sleepover?]" the teen asked.

"[Meh sure, not like we have anything better to do,]" her friend shrugged and stood up. "[I'll just let father know.]"

"[Ok,]" Katrín nodded and returned to the phone. "[No problem mommy dearest. See you then tomorrow. Toodles.]"

She hung up and Erna returned to the room. The blonde girl sat down back in the chair but the brunette rose up slightly to lie down on the side, but supporting herself with one hand under her cheek.

"[You are lucky, we have one spare mattress left,]" Erna told her..

"[That's good to know, hate to think I would sleep on the hard floor,]" her friend said chuckling.

"[Gee this house will end up as a hotel if this continues,]" Erna snickered and Katrín had to restrain herself from laughing out loud.

"[Ok time to see if our internet friends are hanging around,]" the girl said and turned on the computer. The brunette sat up in the bed and watched while her friend got connected.

"[Oh, see if there is any new good movies playing during the Christmas break,]" Katrín suggested.

"[Just a second, checking the mail first. Meh, just junk as usual,]" Erna grunted and began cleaning the inbox.

"[Right, movies, movies,]" the teenager then began clicking away. Katrín stood up from the bed and got another chair. The two girls were shortly later busy browsing the Internet.

 **End chapter 16**

* * *

 **A/N:** It's not a typo when April is saying Halldóra's name, she is just pronouncing it incorrectly.

Thorlaks, is December 23rd on Iceland. It's kind of a holiday for us, and it's traditional to eat Manta rays on that day. Probably the smelliest fish you can ever eat, but hey tradition is tradition eh.

We skipped few weeks with this chapter. It was only the beginning of December at the end of chapter 15, but is now December 21st with chapter 16.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 18/06 2006

* * *

 **Chapter 17**

 _Christmas day_

"Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree. Your branches green delight us," was singing through the house. But it wasn't just one voice it were two, both coming from the kitchen.

Don stumbled out of the bedroom rubbing the back of his neck tiredly. Almost at the same moment Leo walked from the living room, recently awoken himself. The two turtles looked at each other and then both glared at the kitchen doorway.

"He's corrupted my daughter," Donatello grunted as he stalked towards the bathroom. Leonardo meanwhile walked to the kitchen.

Inside there was a duet going on. Erna and Mikey were preparing breakfast and singing as they danced around. The usually blue masked turtle leaned on the doorframe watching the show, although unimpressed.

"I take it that people are not being allowed to sleep in today," Leonardo muttered as the song became a little louder.

"Sleep in? On Christmas day?" Mikey asked looking shocked at his brother. Then gave Erna a milk carton that she put on the table.

"You can sleep in tomorrow," the teenager smiled sweetly at her uncle. Then the two in the kitchen broke into another song.

"Gee, Christmas carols so early?" April appeared behind Leo and peeked into the room.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," Mikey began a new song shortly after the last one ended.

"Everywhere you go," Erna chimed in as they began their duet once more.

"Wow, the girl's got a voice," now Casey was standing with the other two in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Breakfast is ready!" Mikey finally announced and gestured to the table as he faced the small audience. Don emerged from the bathroom and everybody got seated in the kitchen to eat breakfast.

"Man it was fun yesterday. Opening the presents a day early," the orange masked turtle said while they were eating.

"Yeah, I have to admit. It was fun. Leo did such a good job handing out the packages." April grinned and nudged Leonardo who sat on her left.

"So this is a tradition here, handing out the gifts on Christmas Eve, instead of opening the morning on Christmas Day?" Casey inquired and got positive nods from both Don and Erna.

"Like we did yesterday, first we ate dinner and after cleaning up we get comfortable in the living room and one hands out the packages. Usually the head of the household," Donatello explained. Yesterday he hadn't really told much about this tradition, just said this was the way they did it in this country.

"I can get used to that," Mikey beamed.

"You better, I don't think Erna could wait until Christmas morning to open her presents," Don chuckled and eyed his daughter who stuck out her tongue at him.

"Or Katrín for the matter," the orange masked turtle shrugged. He had been interrogated shortly after returning from his dinner the 23rd. At first Mikey only confirmed that unlike them, he had escaped eating a ray. According to Halldóra she had only once tried having it and with disastrous results, never again.

Casey had crumbled when hearing that, having been looking forward to hear about how the orange masked turtle had done in that regard. He himself felt he was being tortured as the heavy smell of the blasted food assaulted him. Then the man had slowly managed to eat the strange fish. Björn and Jónína were the only ones who seemed completely unaffected. Don and Erna put on a brave face and ate; Leo and April had as well eaten without comment but deep down were mentally gagging. Casey was the only one who actually showed in his expression that he didn't like what he smelled or ate.

Michelangelo had finally admitted that he and Halldóra were intending to begin a relationship. Planning to make it official today. The two had hit of very well together. Mikey found her very fun and interesting, he had enjoyed very much talk with her about the Christmas Day plans. Halldóra seemed to be on the same note regarding the energetic turtle. Thus began their excuses to call each other and the woman's many reasons for dropping by.

Mike had to admit that he was beginning to feel a bit nervous for the night. He knew there was another thing he had to do, talk to Katrín. The turtle hadn't had the chance to do that. He wouldn't be comfortable with starting a relationship with her mother without the girl's consent.

Leo had at first found himself being wary of the idea, but he relaxed and reminded himself that he wanted his brother to be happy. Since it was clear this woman was making him extremely happy, so much he had been singing and dancing on Christmas morning, the blue clad turtle wasn't going to stand in the way.

Once everybody had finished breakfast. Don and Leo volunteered to clean up. The others disappeared out of the kitchen shortly later, leaving everything to the two turtles.

"I think I'll change the attic into a room anyway, who knows, might be wise to have two guest rooms," Donatello mentioned as he accepted a plate to dry from his brother.

"I'll help," Leo offered and finished washing another plate.

"If you want to make any improvements on the dojo, just tell me," the younger turtle said and began drying a glass.

"Well, we could use a training dummy there. Punching bag too," the blue clad ninja mentioned.

"I'm sure we can cook something up." his brother nodded.

"If you need me to do something, just let me know. I don't want to just hang around here," Leonardo then said, glancing at his brother.

"Oh don't worry, I'll put you to work," Donatello said and smirked deviously.

"Do you think it'll be necessary to register us?" his older brother wondered.

"Well, I only had me registered so Björn could say somebody lived in this house. As well as I have the custody of Erna, though Björn and Jónína can act as her guardians. It might not be a bad idea though; you don't even have to present yourself there. I can even put you under me as an employee then you can have citizenship here later," Don explained.

"Sound reasonable, it's going to be weird living in a house from now on," Leo mentioned. Donatello nodded.

"Took me awhile to get used to it," he said.

"I better get used to it as well," Leonardo chuckled.

* * *

"[We are here!]" Katrín announced as she and her mother were invited into the house. It was noon now and the two had arrived early, Mikey and Halldóra had to begin cooking the upcoming dinner.

"[Yell a little louder, they didn't hear you in Norway,]" Erna shot at her friend who just stuck her tongue out.

Mikey came walking out of the living room and smiled wide when seeing who had arrived. He immediately walked to Halldóra who gave him a quick peck on the cheek, which the turtle repaid.

"I was thinking of getting it over with," the turtle whispered to the woman. She nodded and both turned towards the teens that had stopped and were chatting in the hallway.

"Um Katrín?" Michelangelo addressed the girl. She turned and raised an eyebrow when the turtle beckoned her to come.

"I want to talk with you, privately," the turtle said with an uneasy smile. The teenager shrugged and followed Mike down into the basement. They stopped in the dojo were the ninja faced the girl, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Um, you probably have noticed that your mom and I have well… kind of hit off," he began.

"Oh no, you two have been so subtle. I haven't even noticed," Katrín said and snickered. The turtle couldn't but smile normally at the sarcastic joke.

"I wanted to talk with you about that," Michelangelo said and folded his arms. "You see, I realize that not many kids like it when their parents suddenly began having a relationship with a stranger."

"Well, I don't have much experience in it, but you see stuff on TV and such. You never know," the orange masked one added and shrugged.

"The point is," he continued and took a deep breath. "I don't want to make you feel that I'm trying to replace anybody, like your father or something. I am not and I don't want you to think I'm stealing your mother away."

"Hey if you replace my father," Katrín said and then pointed at the floor. "I'll kiss the ground you step on. My father was a prick, the moment he heard mom was pregnant he ditched her."

"Ow," Mikey cringed. "She hadn't told me that, yet. I'm sorry."

"Ah that's ok. Can't miss what you never had," the teenager shrugged. "And on top of that, my mother's family didn't like my father. When they heard she was pregnant from him, they disowned her. But my mom put on a brave face and raised me alone and is now working as a secretary in the school I'm in. Plus the few farm animals we have"

"Man, that is harsh," Mike said and began feeling a whole new respect for the woman he was in love with.

"So buddy, you are making my mom happy and you better continue making her happy," Katrín said with a grin and playfully punched the turtle in the plastron. Mikey stood straight and did an army salute.

"Yes ma'am," he said and they both laughed.

"So when are you two really going to start?" the girl asked.

"We plan to announce it at dinner," the turtle told her. "So you really don't mind having a five foot tall turtle as a stepfather?"

"No problem, the only regret is I can't brag about it at school," Katrín did a mock sigh.

"Yeah, that's the downside of it," Mike agreed and nodded.

"Though the funny part is, Erna and I played with the idea of her father and my mother hooking up," the teenagers said chuckling and Mikey couldn't but laugh.

"Oh man, heh, yeah I have to admit I wasn't exactly expecting ending up in a relationship when arriving here," he admitted.

"So, first everything is settled, shall we go up? You have my blessings kind sir to date my mother," Katrín said smiling and gestured to dojo entrance.

"You're too kind my lady," Mikey said and did a deep bow with one hand on his chest. "After you, young miss."

"Oh thank you," Katrín said with a grin and did a curtsey, holding at the sides of her dress before walking out. The turtle followed right behind her.

They emerged in the main hallway and the girl went in search of Erna. Mikey on the other hand went into the kitchen. Halldóra had started already to prepare tonight's dinner.

"Aw, couldn't wait for me?" the turtle pretended to pout but immediately started to help out.

"Just the little things," the woman said smiling warmly at him. Mike grinned and together they started the cooking.

* * *

"Let me get this straight, beer was forbidden here until 1989?" Casey asked stunned. He was talking with Björn in the living room while waiting for the dinner to start.

"Yep, it was the only alcoholic drink not allowed. They allowed the sale of wine cause of pressure from Spain and other wine producing countries back in the 30's or so. But the beer was still outlawed," the old man explained to him.

"Man, and you have you buy it in special stores? You can't buy it in a normal grocery store?" the younger human asked.

"That's about it, yes," Björn nodded. "You can buy it pubs of course."

They were interrupted in their talk when Mikey and Halldóra announced that the dinner was ready. Everything had been placed on the living room table and everyone got seated.

Don and Björn sat at either end, Jónína sat next to her husband on the right side of the table and beside her sat Erna, then came Katrín and Leonardo. On the other side were Casey, April, Halldóra and Mikey. As the feast began, the cooks were complimented on their skills.

After a while Halldóra began whispering to Mikey who nodded. The turtle stood up and cleared his throat. All other discussions were quickly ended and the attention was on the orange masked ninja. He smiled a little nervously before he began.

"Um, I want to make a little announcement," he said and held his wine glass, making slow circles in it. Erna provided translation for Jónína.

"It might not have gone unnoticed by now that Halldóra and I have been seeing a lot of each other for a while now. It started innocently as planning for this very dinner. But it evolved into more," the turtle continued and took a deep breath.

"Halldóra and I have both agreed that we would like to explore this new found relationship further. Thus with the blessing of her daughter, Halldóra and I have decided to become a couple," Mikey told them and let out the breath. He smiled when everybody applauded.

"[Oh how wonderful,]" Jónína commented clasping her hands together and smiling wide.

Halldóra stood up as well when prompted to do so. Mike immediately snaked his free arm around her waist and hugged her closer. The woman put one arm around him and using her right hand turned the turtle's head to face her. Their mouths met in a deep kiss.

"Jeez, get a room already," Katrín teased when the kiss lingered a little bit.

"Way to go, Uncle Mike," Erna congratulated the turtle, under the table she gave her friend a five. The couple finally parted and sat back down. More congratulations were geared towards them before everybody began eating again.

Once dinner was over, it were April, Casey and Leonardo who offered to clean up. The others got comfortable in the living room. Mikey and Halldóra got seated on the couch, the woman in the turtle's arms. Katrín and Erna decided though to disappear together for a while into the latter girl's room.

Björn and Jónína each took a chair but Don got seated in the recliner. Deciding not to disturb the newly formed couple, the turtle spoke with the old folk. The ones cleaning were soon done and joined the others in the living room. The old people had to leave though soon, Jónína had to rest her knee. Donatello walked them out and helped the elder woman down the steps and to the car.

"[Good night Aron,]" she said as the turtle was about to close the car door. "[And I'm glad you have your old family back.]"

"[Me too Jónína, I'm glad I could introduce them to my new family,]" Don said and Jónína smiled.

"[Good night Björn,]" the turtle then said to the old man as he was stepping inside the car.

"[Yeah, good night boy. I'll see you tomorrow, I'll come with the spare parts you needed for the tractor,]" the old man said. The turtle nodded and stepped away from the car. It drove away and Donatello returned inside.

As he stepped into the hallway he noticed Katrín and Erna were exiting his daughter's bedroom. The two girls hurried into the kitchen and Don saw them disappear up to the attic. Donatello shrugged, figuring the girls wanted to rummage more through the stuff there so he returned to the living room.

Mikey and Halldóra were still glued together on the hips, talking softly to each other. Casey and April were talking with Leonardo so Don joined that group. As he sat down, the turtle noticed they were talking about the old days.

"They cleaned my apartment," April laughing and then looked at Don who had just sat down. "I remember that so well, I was so surprised."

"Hey, I mean we wanted to surprise you," Leo said and glanced at his brother. "You remember Don, if I recall correctly you did quite a dance number with the mop."

"You had to remember that," Donatello muttered and palmed his face with one hand. April snickered and Casey grinned wide.

"In fact he got so immersed that the mop…" Leo had to stop as a pillow was thrown at him.

"Don't you dare," the younger turtle said threateningly. He had reached for another pillow from the other chair and was ready to attack his brother with it.

"Ok, ok I won't tell, mercy," Leonardo said and held up his hands. Then he quickly leaned towards the humans and whispered. "He kissed the mop."

"LEONARDO!" Donatello jumped up from the chair with pillow in his hand. Leonardo quickly grabbed the other one from the floor and used it to defend himself from an attack. Then he rose up and fled from the living room, Don hot on his tail.

"I think somebody had a little too much wine," Casey chuckled as he watched the two turtles run out.

"Oh yeah," April nodded in agreement.

"Aw, and I wanted to tease Don about that," Mikey shot in from the couch.

The two turtles returned both smiling very widely and rubbing the arms for warmth. The chase had ended outside were Donatello had promptly stuffed his brother in the snow. Leonardo had returned the favor and once it was beginning to get too cold they returned quickly inside.

"So you kids had fun?" April asked casually.

"Not as much fun as we are going to have now," Leo said with a devious smirk and stood now on the left side of the woman's chair. Don was at the right side. They both looked at Casey, who caught on and shrugged.

"Wait, what do you… oh no," April realized too late what was happening. Two turtles grabbed her and carried her kicking and squealing out of the living room. Then down the hallway and out, they promptly threw her in the snow.

"AARRG!" April shrieked as she landed. Leo and Don fled inside with the enraged woman chasing them. They stopped both in the hallway but as April was walking in, preparing to lecture the two mischievous turtles spotted their next victims.

Erna and Katrín were just leaving the kitchen when they were grabbed by the two ninjas and slung over their shoulders. Don had taken Erna but Leo held Katrín.

"Hey, what is going on?" the bewildered girls asked as they were carried past April who was shaking her head.

"WHAT?!" Erna realized what was going to happen when her father was carrying her outside.

"Eeep!" Katrín squealed and squirmed but was held firmly by snickering Leonardo. The two teenagers were then dumped into the snow as well. But unlike April, the girls didn't give a chase. Instead they both quickly gathered snow up in snowballs and threw them at the two laughing turtles.

As they were returning inside they met Michelangelo who now carried shrieking Halldóra over his shoulder. The orange clad turtle was grinning deviously and gave his girlfriend the same treatment and the others had been receiving. The woman copied her daughter, formed a snowball and threw it at Mikey.

Then there was a shout and struggle from inside. Don and Leo now appeared, both carrying Casey Jones who was promptly thrown out into the snow. The man sputtered as he rose up and growling he chased the two turtles back inside. Mike and Halldóra as well returned into the house.

"Ok that was fun," Mikey said with a wide smile as everybody gathered back in the living room.

"Yeah I guess," April grunted and glared at Don and Leo who both smiled innocently.

"We will go and make some hot coco," Donatello said and left the living room, followed by his blue masked brother.

"I had completely forgotten how mischievous the guys can be, even Leo," April sighed and looked at Halldóra.

"You just be careful, you joined with the prank king himself," she warned her.

"Aw, I'm not that bad," Mikey said smiling innocently.

"No, you just spontaneously scooped me up and threw me out in the snow," Halldóra snorted and playfully slapped him on the shoulder.

"All the cool kids were doing it," the orange masked turtle defended himself. They both laughed.

Don and Leo soon returned with the hot drinks. And everybody gathered around in the living room. Leonardo began telling a story from the old days, back when the turtles had been all four together and still had Splinter around.

Donatello listened with only one ear as he sipped on his coco. Most of his mind had wandered elsewhere. It was slowly sinking into the turtle that he could have missed this opportunity. If his daughter hadn't gone against his wishes, hadn't met Leo that night in New York. This wonderful family moment they were having now, with all the remaining people from his old family, would probably never have occurred.

He glanced towards Erna and smiled. She sat in a corner with Katrín and the girls were both mesmerized as they listened to Leo speak. They were sunken into the story he was telling.

The turtle eyed his orange clad brother. Mikey was once more in the couch and with one arm around Halldóra. The woman leaned up against him and they both were listening as well, both occasionally sipping on their mugs. Donatello nodded to himself, this also might not have happened. He was relieved that his brother had found more happiness, not just reunited with his brother but also finding the love of his life.

His gaze moved towards the storyteller. Leonardo had started a new story, happening in their youth. Donatello listened for a moment and grinned, it had been fun engaging in that light attack with Leo earlier. They two had seldom done anything together back in the days. Don had often found himself doing something with either Raph or Mikey. Most of the time Leo had stood a little bit out, he sometimes did hang around Raph, especially in the dojo. But at other times he didn't seem too interested in what the others were doing. Of course Leo had taken his role as a leader seriously and had strived to live up to that title.

He had been a little relaxed at first, joined his brothers in the fun. But after both losing their lair and then having to find another one. Leonardo had slowly become a bit more serious.

Finally Donatello looked at April and Casey. Their first and for a long time only human friends. The turtle sighed slightly but smiled. He recalled being so jealous when hearing Casey had proposed to April, but he had restrained himself and been civil. Later the jealousy subsided and he faced the reality, that this was much better for both of them. Indeed, after a while the turtles did look at the woman as their sister and Casey had become their brother. They were part of their family.

"[Is something wrong father?]" Erna had noticed the absence in her father's face. She had left the corner and approached the turtle.

Don looked up and at his daughter. He smiled and wondered how his little girl had grown to be so tall. She was only an inch shorter than him, but he could still remember when she just a tiny form in his arms. These years had flown by.

"[Nothing is wrong,]" he answered her after a moment. The turtle took her right hand and squeezed it lightly. "[Everything is fine.]"

"[You looked so absent,]" Erna mentioned. Don nodded, he was well aware of that.

"[I was thinking,]" he clarified. "[How lucky I am to have such a wonderful daughter.]"

"[Aw, I'm lucky to have you as a father,]" the girl smiled and hugged him. Donatello as well embraced his daughter.

Erna returned back to Katrín shortly after they parted. Nobody had paid too much attention to the exchange between them. Leonardo continued to tell stories and the rest listened in quiet.

Donatello sighed and finished from his mug. He was about to place it on the coffee table but froze. For a moment he stared at one corner of the living room, blinked for a moment and then shook his head. Nobody had noticed it though and was the turtle a little relieved.

He could have sworn that in the corner of his living room he had seen Master Splinter and Raphael. The old rat had stood there straight and smiling proudly at him, while his brother had his arms folded and grinning smugly. A blink later it was gone and nothing was in that corner. Then the turtle thought he heard a whisper.

 _'Bout time bro. 'Bout damn time._

 _I am proud of you my son._

Don shook it off and looked at the others. Everybody's attention was on Leonardo, so the turtle just shrugged and decided to listen to the story. Though he couldn't help but smile. Maybe he hadn't been as alone these 13 years with Erna as he thought he had been.

 **End Chapter 17**

* * *

 **A/N:** More spirit implication, I'm leaving it up to readers how involved those two were in getting everyone back together.


	18. Epilogue

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 18/06 2006

* * *

 **Epilogue**

 _Few weeks later_

The subway lair was very quiet as three figures climbed down the ladder from the round entrance on the ceiling. Leo was first to step down on the floor and using his flashlight he found the power switch. As he threw it up, Mikey was already down and Don was just about letting go of the ladder.

"Wow," the now purple clad turtle said as he looked around. "Been so long."

"Yeah," Mike nodded and walked down the steps to the main area of the lair. Donatello walked much slower as he took in the sight again, his old home.

"Well guys, time to pick out what to take and what throw away," Leo said and approached his old room.

Don nodded and went to the subway car that had once belonged to him. It took him a while to get it open, as it hadn't been opened for a very long time. Mikey was already inside his own room.

"Well we don't need any of the large electronics," Donatello said few minutes later and stepped out again from his room. "The couch also might just be best thrown away as well, it's ok down here but not topside."

"We definitely don't need the beds," Leo claimed from his room. "We must at least remove any evidences that we lived here. Photos and such."

"Is Splinter's room empty?" Don asked with a frown.

"Yeah," Mikey called from his car.

"What about Raph's?" the purple masked one inquired. He was met with silence; finally both Mikey and Leo stepped into the doorway of their rooms.

"Well, no," Leonardo said and scratched the back of his neck. "We kind of haven't gone in there… not since he died."

"You think we should?" the orange masked ninja asked warily.

"Well… we might want to remove any indication of us that he could have had," Leo muttered and eyed the door on Raphael's car. "And probably take his personal belongings and put them somewhere. I'm sure April and Casey can store them."

"Don, you want to?" Mikey asked but was uneasy and gestured to their deceased brother's room.

Donatello took a deep breath and nodded. The turtle then walked to the subway car and opened it. He then plunged inside. His brothers waited outside, not really daring to follow their purple clad sibling. They heard a gasp and Don suddenly appeared in the doorway holding something.

"Guys, look at this," he whispered and showed them an envelope. On front of it stood:

 _To my bros._

"Where was it?" Leo asked surprised.

"On the drawer," Don said and slowly opened the letter. First he quickly skimmed over it and his eye-ridges rose high. Then he began reading more slowly.

 _Mikey and Leo_

 _If you are reading this, then I have bit the big one. Probably because I went alone looking for trouble, busting few skulls or something like that. But I won't regret it, because I was going out alone for a reason._

 _Don is alive, I know it and can feel it. I'm going to be out there waiting for him when he returns. It will be no if about that. He will return. I dunno when, but I know it._

 _I have though honored your wishes to consider him dead. Thus I have never mentioned this to you guys. Especially for Mikey's sake, he shouldn't have to worry too much anymore._

 _Guys I acted terribly against Don and it was kind of my fault he went off. I was drunk and said things I never should have, untrue things spoken through sheer stupidity. Because I was drunk and wallowing in self-pity, I needed someone else to blame. As usual I spoke without thinking, not realizing until too late how deeply I hurt my brother. I might just as well have taken my sai and ripped his guts out._

 _When you meet Don again, don't resent him for leaving. Take him back with open arms because it was not his fault that he left. It was mine, tell him how terribly sorry I am for acting the way I did. He did not deserve it, not after all the hours he spent slaving to find a cure for our father. Neglecting his own health in the process._

 _Good-bye guys._

 _Raphael_

"Dude," Mikey whispered once Don had finished reading.

"Now… now I kind of wish I had gone into his room," Leo muttered, he got the letter from the purple masked turtle.

"I have already forgiven him," Don said and smiled a small smile. "I realized he didn't mean it. He was drunk."

"Well, he didn't probably know it. But I knew he didn't think you were dead. I just never mentioned it," Leo said and folded the letter. Mikey didn't want to read it so he placed it on his belt.

"Should we move anything from Raph's room?" Don asked.

"If there is something there that indicates that four mutated turtles and a rat used to live here," Leonardo said then thought for a moment. "Yes, let's empty his room like we did with Splinters."

Quick inspection only revealed few pictures and nothing more. The turtles finished gathering up what they would want send to their new home. They all stacked it close to the entrance to be later picked up, as well as several other things from Raphael's room that would go to storage. The rest was just going to be left behind

"So guys," Leo said and glanced up the ladder. Then he eyed his two brothers.

"How about a patrol, just for old time sakes?" he asked grinning. The two other turtle's raised their eye-ridges but then shrugged. They all quickly and swiftly climbed the ladder out of the lair.

* * *

The police officers had heard stories about things like this happening, muggers and other night predators mysteriously beaten and tied up. This was often in a very comic way as if to mock them.

13 years ago these events had subsided with only the occasional mysterious assistance. But the stories have been strong; yet nobody knew whom these mystery people were who silently and swiftly aided people. Only the slightest shadow was maybe spotted, occasionally a slight noise escaping from them.

The two officers stood now and stared at what almost matched what sometimes happened so many years ago. Two men were tied up on a fire escape, hanging heads down. A nearby woman telling the third officer how these two had been trying to mug and even rape her. But then suddenly the two would-be attackers had been whisked into the shadows, after a short scuffle the woman had suddenly seen the two men hanging and tied up.

As the police officers took a look around they failed to notice something high up on the rooftops. Three shadows, looking almost like gargoyles staring down. Just these moved and shortly later disappeared from the ledge.

The police finished in the alley, cut down the two men and drove them to jail. Not even knowing that three mutant turtles had aided them, ninjas who few days later left the city to live elsewhere. At least for now.

 **The End**

* * *

 **A/N:** And thus this story ends, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it many years ago.

In the stealthy stories version, you can read a long Afterthought I wrote regarding this story. There is a link to my forum on my profile.


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